Erdogan Wins Five More Years As Turkey's President
Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won reelection on Sunday, extending his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade in a country reeling from high inflation and the aftermath of an earthquake that levelled entire cities.
With nearly 99 per cent of ballot boxes opened, unofficial results from competing news agencies showed Erdogan with 52 per cent of the vote, compared with 48 per cent for his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
In his first comments since the polls closed, Erdogan spoke to supporters on a campaign bus outside his home in Istanbul.
"I thank each member of our nation for entrusting me with the responsibility to govern this country once again for the upcoming five years," he said.
He ridiculed his challenger for his loss, saying "bye bye bye, Kemal," as supporters booed.
"The only winner today is Turkey," Erdogan said. He promised to work hard for Turkiye's second century. The country marks its centennial this year.
"No one can look down on our nation," he said.
Supporters of the divisive populist were celebrating even before the final results arrived, waving Turkish or ruling party flags, and honking car horns, chanting his name and "in the name of God, God is great".
With a third term, Erdogan will have an even stronger hand domestically and internationally, and the election results will have implications far beyond Ankara. Turkiye stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and it plays a key role in NATO.
Erdogan's government vetoed Sweden's bid to join NATO and purchased Russian missile-defence systems, which prompted the United States to oust Turkiye from a US-led fighter-jet project. But it also helped broker a crucial deal that allowed Ukrainian grain shipments and averted a global food crisis.
Erdogan, who has been at Turkiye's helm for 20 years, came just short of victory in the first round of elections on May 14. It was the first time he failed to win an election outright, but he made up for it Sunday.
His
performance
came
despite
crippling
inflation
and
the
effects
of
a
devastating
earthquake
three
months
ago.
Hungary's
Prime
Minister
Viktor
Orban
congratulated
Erdogan
via
Twitter
for
an
"unquestionable
election
victory,"
and
Qatar's
ruler,
Sheikh
Tamim
bin
Hamad
Al
Thani
wished
the
Turkish
president
success
in
a
tweet.
Other
congratulations
poured
in
from
Azerbaijan,
Pakistan,
Libya,
Algeria,
Serbia
and
Uzbekistan.
The two candidates offered sharply different visions of the country's future, and its recent past.
Critics blame Erdogan's unconventional economic policies for skyrocketing inflation that has fuelled a cost-of-living crisis. Many also faulted his government for a slow response to the earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkiye.
In the mainly Kurdish-populated province of Diyarbakir - one of 11 regions that was hit by the February 6 earthquake - 60-year-old retiree Mustafa Yesil said he voted for "change".
"I'm
not
happy
at
all
with
the
way
this
country
is
going.
Let
me
be
clear,
if
this
current
administration
continues,
I
don't
see
good
things
for
the
future,"
he
said.
"I
see
that
it
will
end
badly
-
this
administration
has
to
change."
Mehmet
Yurttas,
an
Erdogan
supporter,
disagreed.
"I believe that our homeland is at the peak, in a very good condition," the 57-year-old shop owner said. "Our country's trajectory is very good and it will continue being good."
Erdogan has retained the backing of conservative voters who remain devoted to him for lifting Islam's profile in the Turkiye, which was founded on secular principles, and for raising the country's influence in world politics.
Erdogan, 69, could remain in power until 2028. A devout Muslim, he heads the conservative and religious Justice and Development Party, or AKP. Erdogan transformed the presidency from a largely ceremonial role to a powerful office through a narrowly won 2017 referendum that scrapped Turkiye's parliamentary system of governance. He was the first directly elected president in 2014, and won the 2018 election that ushered in the executive presidency.
The first half of Erdogan's tenure included reforms that allowed the country to begin talks to join the European Union, and economic growth that lifted many out of poverty. But he later moved to suppress freedoms and the media and concentrated more power in his own hands, especially after a failed coup attempt that Turkiye says was orchestrated by the US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen. The cleric denies involvement.
Erdogan's rival is a soft-mannered former civil servant who has led the pro-secular Republican People's Party, or CHP, since 2010. Kilicdaroglu campaigned on promises to reverse Erdogan's democratic backsliding, to restore the economy by reverting to more conventional policies, and to improve ties with the West.
In a frantic effort to reach out to nationalist voters in the runoff, Kilicdaroglu vowed to send back refugees and ruled out peace negotiations with Kurdish militants if he is elected.
The defeat for Kilicdaroglu adds to a long list of electoral losses to Erdogan, and puts pressure on him to step down as party chairman.
Erdogan's AKP party and its allies retained a majority of seats in parliament following a legislative election that was also held on May 14.
Sunday
also
marked
the
10th
anniversary
of
the
start
of
mass
anti-government
protests
that
broke
out
over
plans
to
uproot
trees
in
Istanbul's
Gezi
Park,
and
became
one
of
the
most
serious
challenges
to
Erdogan's
government.
Erdogan's
response
to
the
protests,
in
which
eight
people
were
convicted
for
alleged
involvement,
was
a
harbinger
of
a
crackdown
on
civil
society
and
freedom
of
expression.
Following the May 14 vote, international observers pointed to the criminalisation of dissemination of false information and online censorship as evidence that Erdogan had an "unjustified advantage". They also said that strong turnout showed the resilience of Turkish democracy.
Erdogan and pro-government media portrayed Kilicdaroglu, who received the backing of the country's pro-Kurdish party, as colluding with "terrorists" and of supporting what they described as "deviant" LGBTQ rights.
In his victory speech, he repeated those themes, saying LGBTQ people cannot "infiltrate" his ruling party or its nationalist allies.