RECEP Tayyip Erdogan has been sworn in as President of Türkiye after securing another electoral victory in the most recently-held presidential election which was a narrowed escape. Even new cabinet has also been announced which vividly reflects dynamic orientation of Türkiye democratic norms. The selection of secret chief as new foreign minister and new finance/economic minister always speaks itself. It means right from the beginning Erdogan has taken right step in the right direction.
Economic revival, social development, fixing of lira meltdown, seeking of more and more inflows of FDIs, controlling of inflationary trends and constant price hike would be the foremost national priorities of Erdogan. Combating against terrorism, socio-economic, geopolitical and geostrategic realignment with all the regional countries especially Syria, Iraq, Greece, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, UAE and last but not the least the US would be the strategic priorities in foreign policy. During the elections, Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a narrow victory over the leader of the opposition Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the runoff election held on 28 May 2023 and became the first President to extend his rule into the third term and till 2028.
According to the official results announced by Türkiye Supreme Electoral Council, after a high turnout, Erdogan managed to get 52.18% of the votes while his main rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu received 47.82%. After the conclusion of the presidential elections, Erdogan delivered a speech thanking the people of Türkiye and declaring his victory in the election as victory of Turkey and its 85 million people. Thus started a new era of national reconciliation, reconstruction and restructuring in the country to jointly achieve desired goals of socio-economic prosperity and monetary stability. Following his victory, Erdogan was congratulated by leaders of Pakistan, France, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Russia and many others. President of China Xi Jin Ping also congratulated him and urged on working together to pursue common goals and strategic cooperation.
After getting defeated in the elections Kilicdaroglu stressed while speaking at his party’s headquarters that he will continue fighting for “real democracy”. He further tried to taint the victory of President Erdogan by stating that the elections were the most unfair elections in Türkiye’s history and that Erdogan used his administration to pressurize the people to vote for him. Even many western observers and experts commented biased media coverage, misuse of state resources and restrictions upon the freedom of expression resulted in creating an unjust advantage for Tayyip Erdogan.
However, many experts dismiss this notion and believe that Erdogan’s brilliant policies and plans leading up to the elections were the reason for his victory. Experts state that Erdogan displayed his political marvel by creating alliances with other conservative parties, the National Movement Party and the Grand Unity Party against the allied opposition. They campaigned for stability and prosperity, economic revitalization and security which were effective in helping Erdogan win the support of millions of conservative votes. Erdogan political acumen and his vast political experience proved to be vital against his opponents. Moreover, Erdogan showcased his pure leadership capacity through his inclusive policies and his modernization of neglected rural areas. This helped him win the support of most of the poorer and rural regions of Türkiye and proved to be vital in helping him win 52% of the votes.
His policy of open borders and accommodation of Syrian refugees also proved to be a decisive factor in the Presidential and Parliamentary elections as they voted for Erdogan against Kilicdaroglu who was very vocal about the fact that accommodation of refugees has produced economic hardships for Türkiye. The anti-refugee sentiment runs high among allied opposition as they vowed to deport back the Syrian refugees, this contributed to the Syrian refugees voting for Tayyip Erdogan. Moreover, the vote of those living aboard, also proved to be fundamental in his victory. Erdogan enjoys immense popularity among the overseas voters, who are a size-able part (3.4 million) of Türkiye’s 65 million registered voters.
Furthermore, the biggest challenge that Erdgoan faced was the earthquake that devastated Türkiye’s southern regions, killing over 50,000 people and leaving many homeless. Erdogan was quick to mobilize resources for earthquake relief and even launched huge construction plan for creating 600,000 new houses across the earthquake-hit regions. Along with this he was always present at devastated regions, interacting with the survivors and providing them with reassurances, this display of compassion, kindness and understanding of human emotions helped him attract the voters as he and his party APK won the majority in 10 out of 12 earthquake hit regions. He, through his magic, captured the hearts and souls of his people as he said that he would work against the deviant forces, LGBTQ, that are threatening the conservative family structure of Türkiye. The opposition, however, appeared to be more inclusive and pro-LGBT which further helped Erdogan to get more votes from the conservative Turks.
—The writer is Youth Ambassador, the Centre for South Asia & International Studies (CSAIS) Islamabad
