Published: Less than 20 min ago
1 of 6 Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT
A dancing sea of people met their great idol, and the election campaign in Turkey gained new strength when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave a fiery speech in the dramatic election rush.
– We can’t think of anyone else, because there is no one else, says supporter Deniz.
There are two weeks left until what is being called a fateful election for Turkey, and the wind is cold in Ankara. Not in two decades has Recep Tayyip Erdogan faced an election with such an uncertain outcome.
Besides, it’s raining.
Not that it is noticeable when the 69-year-old president and his wife Emine Erdogan take the stage in central Ankara.
A wall of cheers greets them, from tens of thousands of supporters, almost all waving flags – the Turkish or one of the president’s party APK’s white blue and orange.
– So, are you ready to join us in our great victory, Erdogan asks the sea of people, confident in the role of a father of the country he himself has put on, closest in class to the great Kemal Atatürk, whose portrait hangs huge on the side of the stage and the mausoleum is a stone’s throw away.
The high inflation, the criticism after the earthquake in February, the refugee crisis – everything is blown away when the president nods approvingly to DJ Pedro’s bombastic and immensely popular tribute song, aptly named “Recep Tayyip Erdogan”.
No matter how strong he wants to appear, he can’t round off the week’s big topic of conversation. Few Turks missed that the president threw up on television last week and has since canceled almost all appearances.
– As you know, I was ill, and prayers for me were heard from all homes. I will try to prove myself worthy of all your prayers, he says.
And the audience gives him even more support.
– It just shows that he is human. You can’t jump on someone for an upset stomach, it’s just a way to avoid getting criticized yourself, says teacher Mine, and is agreed by her colleague Esra.
– They just want to paint him as weak, he is too big a threat.
The NATO position a strength
They have no opinion about Erdogan standing in the way of Swedish membership in NATO, says Esra, uttering the same words that many in the audience say in almost all questions.
– If Erdogan thinks so, we trust that it is right. He’s doing the right thing.
23-year-old Aysun, a little further forward in the crowd, has nothing against Sweden, but Erdogan’s position is a statement of strength.
– I know you have a good country, but he is tough on Europe and I think that is good. And only Erdogan can do that, only he shows that he wants it, says the nursing student.
“There is no one else”
The opinion polls give the president a slight lead over the opposition, but the margins are small and from the stage, Erdogan paints a dark picture of the major challenger CHP and its leader, presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
– Mr. Kemal has turned the CHP into a home for anyone who wants to insult our republic. Under his leadership, LGBTQ advocates, globalists and those who want to see a secular Turkey rule, Erdogan warns.
These are warnings 23-year-old Aysun does not take lightly. Because of Erdogan’s policies, she has moved back from Nuremberg in Germany, where her parents emigrated when she was a child.
– They had no choice. At that time, women were not allowed to wear veils in universities. Now he has changed that and given us back the freedom and the strength. If Kilicdaroglu wins, he changes everything back.
Just a few meters away – on the other side of the large picket fence that keeps the men on the right and the women on the left – Deniz agrees.
– Erdogan is the only one who can take us forward, he has ruled for 20 years and must do so for another 20 years. For the children, their future depends on it, he says, pointing to his two sons.
– We cannot think of anyone else, because there is no one else.
The heat comes with the victory
After just over an hour, President Erdogan has come to the point. The power has run out and the leader who started in just a jacket has put on a thick outer coat.
But the little rain has stopped falling, and the heat is coming. In two weeks, says an elderly man hurrying past with an AKP flag in hand.
– When Erdogan wins, it gets hot. Then we can go out in just the shirt.
Facts
The election in Turkey
On May 14, 2023, Turkey will hold presidential and parliamentary elections. Roughly 60 million Turks are eligible to vote.
Previously, the date was set for June 18, but with reference to the school year, the election was brought forward. Thus, the election is held on the same date that Turkey held its first free election in 1950.
If no presidential candidate secures more than 50 percent of the vote on May 14, a second round will be held on May 28.
In the parliamentary elections, voters from 87 constituencies will elect 600 members for a five-year term in the Turkish parliament.
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Erdogan and AKP
Recep Tayyip Erdogan was born in Istanbul in 1954. He became the city’s mayor in 1994.
In 2001, Erdogan founded the conservative Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has ruled Turkey since 2022. Erdogan was not allowed to stand as a candidate in the 2002 election, as he had previously served a shorter prison sentence for publicly quoting a poem that was considered to promote Islamist violence.
He took over as prime minister in 2003, a role he held until 2014, with Abdullah Gül as president.
In 2014, Erdogan himself was elected president, the first in Turkey to be elected through general elections. He was re-elected with an absolute majority in June 2018.
During the AKP’s first year in power, Turkey experienced a strong economic recovery, with improved living standards for large sections of the population. In recent years, however, the economy has stagnated, with rampant inflation and unemployment, while, according to many observers, the country has developed in an authoritarian direction.
After being re-elected as president in 2018, Erdogan, through various laws and decrees, began to reshape the state apparatus in a way that basically meant that the previous parliamentarism was replaced by a presidential rule, with a very large concentration of power to the head of state.
At the same time, Erdogan and the AKP have given Islam an increasingly prominent place in historically strongly secular Turkey.
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