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Turkey’s President Erdogan seals election victory to enter third decade in power – UnlistedNews

Turkey’s President and Justice and Development (AK) Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during his party’s group meeting at the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) in Ankara on May 18, 2022.

Adem Altan | AFP | fake images

Turkish media reported on Sunday that Recep Tayyip Erdogan won Turkey’s 2023 presidential election, extending his rule into his third decade in power after facing the closest race of his career.

Turkish public broadcaster TRT has called a presidential election for the incumbent Erdogan.

The state-run Anadolu news agency’s vote count shows Erdogan’s main opposition candidate, Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, 52.11% to 47.89% with 98.52% of the votes counted.

The official numbers have been slower than the media tallies, and while they show Erdogan leading, the winner has not been officially announced.

Analysts saw victory for Erdogan, 69, as all but certain after the first vote on May 14, in which he came out five percentage points ahead of his rival, in a major blow to the opposition.

Kilicdaroglu and his CHP party promised change, economic improvements, the rescuing of democratic norms and closer ties with the West, something many hoped would lead to victory, especially as years of Erdogan’s economic policies helped create a cost crisis. of life in Turkey. But in the end, it was not enough.

The popularity of the AK Party leader is still alive and well, even despite public anger over the government’s slow response following a series of devastating earthquakes in February that killed more than 50,000 people.

Many in Turkey, and in the Muslim world in general, see Erdogan as a protector of faithful Muslims who elevates Turkey globally and rejects the West, despite being a longtime Western ally.

By contrast, Kilicdaroglu’s party, the CHP, fights for the fiercely secular model of leadership first established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish state. It is known for being historically more hostile to observant Muslims, who form a huge part of the Turkish electorate, although the CHP under Kilicdaroglu has softened its stance and has even been joined by former members of the Islamist party.

big decisions ahead

Erdogan has no shortage of work ahead of him, and his decisions will continue to have impacts far beyond Turkey’s borders. The country of 85 million inhabitants boasts The second largest army in NATOhouses 50 US nuclear warheads, hosts 4 million refugees and has assumed a key role in Russia-Ukraine mediation. Western allies will now also be waiting to see if Erdogan finally agrees to accept Sweden’s application to join NATO.

Erdogan was Prime Minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and President from 2014 onwards. He rose to fame as the mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s and was celebrated in the first decade of the new millennium for transforming Turkey’s economy into an emerging market powerhouse.

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However, recent years have been far less rosy for the conservative religious leader, whose own economic policies have helped push inflation to over 80% by 2022 and Turkey’s currency, the liralosing 77% of its value against the dollar during the last five years.

Both international and national voices are also sounding the alarm that Turkish democracy under Erdogan is looking less and less democratic by the day.

Frequent arrests of journalists, forced closures of many independent media outlets, and heavy crackdowns on previous protest movements, as well as a 2017 constitutional referendum that vastly expanded Erdogan’s presidential powers, point to what many say is a slippage. towards autocracy.

The Turkish president rejects the criticism. But with a new term to lead and previous reforms consolidating presidential power, very little stands in the way of a stronger-than-ever Erdogan.

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Sara Marcus
Sara Marcushttps://unlistednews.com
Meet Sara Marcus, our newest addition to the Unlisted News team! Sara is a talented author and cultural critic, whose work has appeared in a variety of publications. Sara's writing style is characterized by its incisiveness and thought-provoking nature, and her insightful commentary on music, politics, and social justice is sure to captivate our readers. We are thrilled to have her join our team and look forward to sharing her work with our readers.
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