Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu will outline their strategy for the second round of the Turkish presidential elections, which will take place on Sunday, May 28, from today, after neither seems to have managed to get 50% plus one vote, which would allow him to rise to the highest office in the country. Everything shows that the climate in these two weeks in Turkey will be highly polarized, as the main rivals will turn their verbal fire against each other even more intensely.
With 98.41% of the votes counted, Erdogan leads with a percentage of 49.34%, while Kilicdaroglu gathers 45.00% of the votes.
After the overnight thriller, the analysts who argued for a long time that the current president Erdoğan, even if he is defeated, is not willing to lose are confirmed. He denied the opinion polls that showed him losing by a wide margin from his opponent and of course those who said that he would be defeated in the first round. The way in which the Turkish president closed the “scissors” is questioned by many regarding whether it was done by completely legal means or not, especially in areas far from the major urban centers.
Whoever wins on the 28th of the month, after yesterday’s results, is sure to be challenged by his opponent. If Erdogan actually wins, the opposition will also question the victory, the only thing he can do is appeal to the Court and the competent state bodies. But all the institutions are currently controlled by Mr. Erdogan.
If he wins Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Erdogan will dispute the result, especially if the margin is small. In fact, it is not excluded that phenomena of unrest will be caused in the country which will also have an impact on the long-suffering economy. But even if these are overcome, in the event that Kilindaroglu is sworn in as president, it will still be difficult for him to govern as Erdogan won an important victory at the Parliament level yesterday. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) elects the most MPs in the 600-member Grand National Assembly, so it will have the “upper hand” in the legislative branch.
The truth is that most of the international media wished Erdogan to lose yesterday. However, this negativism ultimately worked the other way around in the psychology of the average Turkish voter who wanted to “protect” his leader from the attacks he receives from outside the borders.
The regulator of elections
Sinan Ogan, who finished third in the election race, emerged as a moderator of the presidential elections. When he learned that he received 5.3% of the vote, he wrote on his Twitter account that “I would like to appeal to all parties here. No party should try to make a “pirate” speech from the balcony, turning the elections into a fait accompli. All the polls should be opened and the result should be clearly revealed. No one should disturb society. He has no right.” In fact, whether he will support Erdogan, Kilicdaroglu, or leave his voters free to choose whoever they want, remains to be seen.
Mitsotakis: I will talk with whoever the Turkish citizens choose
The Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis however, in an interview he gave yesterday to the Kathimerini newspaper, he emphasized that he is ready to cooperate with any president chosen by the Turkish people. In particular, he pointed out that “who will be elected is a matter for Turkish citizens. I must note, however, that with Turkey’s current approach and revisionism, one cannot be particularly optimistic. That is why it is extremely important who will be at the helm of Greece in the coming years. […] I will talk to whoever the Turkish citizens choose. […] We must be ready for both better and more difficult days. I hope Turkey realizes at some point that it has more to gain if it re-approaches Greece, Europe and the West in general. We have open the door to dialogue for the construction of a positive agenda, on issues that can be of mutual benefit, such as trade, culture, the environment. We are consistent in what we say. But we are not naive.”
And he continued: “For there to be a substantial improvement in our relations, Turkey must accept that we resolve our differences based on International Law and the Law of the Sea. And that we actually have a big difference, which is the demarcation of the maritime zones, EEZ and continental shelf, in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. These are also the issues for which at some point we could go to The Hague. There is no way I can discuss any other issues with Turkey. Neither, obviously, issues that have to do with Greek sovereignty in the Aegean islands nor issues that have to do with the demilitarization of the islands.”
Source: News Beast
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