Undefeated Erdogan gets another 20 years in power in Turkey’s vote.
On Monday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, made a call for national unity after winning a historic repeat election that will keep him in power until 2028.
The 69-year-old won his toughest election by getting through Turkey’s worst economic crisis in a generation and the strongest opposition union his party has ever faced.
As Turkiye’s most important leader in modern history led a sea of fans in a happy song outside his presidential palace in Ankara, cars honked their horns in the streets and tributes came from all over the world.
Erdogan told the shouting and waving flags crowd, “We should all work together as one.” “We really want this to happen.”
Nearly finished results showed that Erdogan beat Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the secular opposition by four percentage points.
As Erdogan spoke, US President Joe Biden tweeted, “I look forward to continuing to work with you as a NATO ally on bilateral issues and shared global challenges.”
Antonio Guterres, who is the head of the UN, said through a spokesman that he “looks forward to further strengthening cooperation between Turkey and the UN.”
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, said that the result showed that Erdogan’s “efforts to strengthen state sovereignty and pursue an independent foreign policy” were supported.
Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said he wants to keep working with Erdogan “for Europe’s security and stability.”
Erdogan is one of the few world leaders, according to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose views are “rooted in public service.”
He said, “I can’t wait to work with him to strengthen our strategic partnership and keep up with the great brotherhood between our two peoples.”
Leaders from all over Europe and the Arab world, as well as former US president Donald Trump, also sent their best wishes.
Traffic stopped in Istanbul’s famous Taksim Square, and people from all over Turkiye came together to sing and wave flags.
“Our people chose the right man,” said Nisa Sivaslioglu, who is 17 years old and lives in the capital of Turkey.
“I think Erdogan will do more good things for our country in addition to what he has already done.”
Longest-serving leader
Turkiye’s longest-serving leader was put to the test like never before in what was widely seen as the country’s most important election in its 100-year history as a post-Ottoman republic.
On May 14, Kilicdaroglu pushed Erdogan into the first knockout in Turkey, and in the second round, he got even closer to Erdogan.
People in the opposition saw it as a “do-or-die” chance to keep Turkiye from becoming an autocracy under the rule of a man whose rise to power matches that of the Ottoman sultans.
Kilicdaroglu’s short concession speech said, “I’m really sad about the big problems the country is going to face” with Erdogan.
After the first round, the leader of the resistance came back a changed person.
The 74-year-old former civil servant’s message of social unity and freedoms was replaced by desk-thumping speeches about the need to get rid of refugees right away and fight terrorism.
His move to the right was meant to hurt the nationalists, who did very well in the parallel parliamentary elections.
Analysts were not sure that Kilicdaroglu’s risk would pay off.
Erdogan presents a pro-Kurdish party as the political wing of banned militants, so he could be accused of working with “terrorists” because he has a loose relationship with the party.
And Kilicdaroglu’s efforts to win over Turkey’s hard right were hurt by the fact that Erdogan got the support of an ultranationalist who came in third two weeks ago.
“Erdogan played the nationalist card very well,” Galip Dalay, a fellow at Chatham House, told AFP.
“Despite the fact that Turkey’s economy is very bad, the opposition couldn’t come up with an alternative agenda item that could overshadow Erdogan’s story.”
Leader of the poor
Erdogan is seen as a hero by parts of Turkey’s broken society that are poorer and more rural. This is because he has worked to protect religious freedoms and modernize once-dilapidated towns in the Anatolian heartland.
But because he cracks down on opposition and pursues a tough foreign policy, he is making people in the West more and more worried.
He sent troops into Syria, which made European countries angry and put Turkish soldiers on the opposite side of Kurdish forces that the US was helping.
Even though the Kremlin went to war with Ukraine, his personal friendship with Putin has not changed.
Turkey’s troubled economy is getting a big boost from a key delay in paying for Russian energy imports. This helped Erdogan spend a lot of money this year on campaign promises.
Erdogan also pushed back Finland’s entry into NATO, and he still won’t let Sweden join the US-led military alliance.
“Day of judgment”
Erdogan will be put to the test most quickly by the state of Turkey’s economy.
He met with many central bankers before he found one who would fulfill his wish to cut interest rates no matter what in 2021.
The Turkiye currency soon went into a freefall, and last year the yearly inflation rate hit 85%.
Erdogan has said that he will keep doing these things, and he disagrees with economists who say that the economy is in danger.
Turkey spent tens of billions of dollars trying to keep the lira from falling before the vote, which would have been politically risky.
Many experts say that Turkey needs to raise interest rates now or stop trying to help the lira.
Analysts at Capital Economics warned, “Turkey’s economy and financial markets may soon have to face the music.”
