Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bid to add five more years to his 20 years in power has soured the final hours of Turkish election of presidential race. In an effort to win over nationalist voters ahead of Sunday’s run-off election, opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu promised to deport millions of Syrian refugees.
According to the president, a victory for Kilicdaroglu would be a victory for terrorists and accused him of using hate speech. The opposition candidate trailed in the first round by 2.5 million votes.
Despite being the favorite, the president’s rival believes they can still bridge the margin, either by mobilizing the 2.8 million supporters of an ultranationalist candidate who finished third or by encouraging the participation of the eight million voters who did not take part in the first round.
For four hours this week Mr Kilicdaroglu took audience questions on a YouTube channel called BaBaLa TV. The broadcast has reached 24 million views by the latest count and Turkey has a population of 85 million. Youth campaigner Mehtep thinks the YouTube marathon could work: “Being on BaBaLa TV affected lots of young voters who didn’t vote first time around.”
“Only Female Leader”
She’s a member of the centre-right, nationalist Good party, which has backed the opposition challenger and has the only female leader in Turkish politics in Meral Aksener. The appearance was a smart move for a candidate trying to overcome his rival’s inbuilt advantage of controlling about 90% of Turkish media.
International monitors say voters may have had a genuine choice, but that Turkey “did not fulfil the basic principles for holding a democratic election”. President Erdogan has not just amassed sweeping powers in the past six years – he has cracked down on dissent and political opponents have been thrown into jail.
The town of Bala, an hour’s drive to the south-east of Ankara, is not the sort of place Mr Kilicdaroglu will be able to turn to for support. More than 60% of voters backed President Erdogan there two weeks ago, and there is little sign of any of Turkey’s five million first-time voters out on the streets.
Over the road from the president’s party headquarters, doner kebab shop owner Al Ozdemir says he will vote for another five years of Mr Erdogan. But another shopkeeper refused to tell the BBC who he supported because he feared losing Erdogan supporters as customers. For months Turkey’s struggling economy was the number one issue, but as Sunday’s run-off has drawn close, the rhetoric has intensified and refugees are at the centre of it.
Gone is the unifying 74-year-old opposition leader with his hands cupped into trademark heart-shape. Instead, he is trying to attract voters who backed ultranationalist leader Sinan Ogan two Sundays ago.
