‘I can do it’: Erdogan promises Turkey stronger medicine

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan climbed atop a bus in his hometown of Istanbul to declare victory in Turkey’s ongoing election on Sunday evening.

“We will be in the grave together,” Erdoğan declared to thunderous applause from the balcony of his sprawling 1,100-room palace before heading to the capital city Ankara to deliver a ceremonial victory speech to a large crowd of supporters.

Erdogan’s victory in Sunday’s run-off election against Kemal Kilikdaroglu made the president, Turkey’s most influential politician since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who shaped the country of 85 million people a century ago. Will give a new mandate. But it also risks deepening the nation’s division along ideological lines.

“He managed to split Turkey . . . into two factions, for or against Erdoğan,” said Emre Peker at the Eurasia Group. passing through, Erdoğan can still win elections on identity politics.”

Erdogan’s staunch supporters, a sizable group of devout, conservative voters in Turkey’s vast Anatolian heartland, are betting the 69-year-old will stick to his nationalist pledges, building Turkey into a more powerful player in international politics and the global economy. do.

Critics worry that his re-election, which extends his rule to a third decade, will hasten a slide toward autocracy and reinforce his preference for unorthodox economic policies that have ignited a painful cost of life crisis. and sent the lira to a record low.

But Kılıçdaroğlu’s warnings that the election was one last chance to “close the gates of hell” failed to resonate with most Turks, many of whom feel an emotional connection to their leader of 20 years, Istanbul Aydın University said Professor Tariq Oğzulu.

“People clearly didn’t buy the opposition’s argument that this was a referendum between democracy or illiberal authoritarianism,” he said. “Many parts of society have benefited from the transfer of wealth (Erdoğan) was able to exploit during the campaign, warning: ‘If I leave, you’ll lose what you’ve achieved’.”

You are viewing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is probably due to being offline or JavaScript is disabled in your browser.

Kılıçdaroğlu, backed by a six-party opposition coalition, won only 47.9 percent of the vote in Sunday’s second-round presidential election, compared with 52.1 percent for Erdogan, according to provisional figures from Turkey’s election board. The parliamentary coalition led by the ruling Justice and Development Party, under which Erdogan first gained power in 2002, also did well in the first round of elections held on 14 May, retaining its majority in the legislative branch.

Election observers have argued that while voting in Turkey remains largely free, Erdoğan enjoys unfair advantages, including a compliant mainstream press, which largely ignores the opposition and the state for pre-election gifts. Used the money.

That spending, and Erdogan’s growth-at-all-cost strategy for the economy, means he now has to deal with Turkey’s financial hangover.

Foreign investors have fled Turkey’s markets in recent years, with the country’s shares and bond holdings plunging to historic lows as concerns grew over Erdoğan’s economic policies, including his insistence that interest rate cuts be avoided. Turkey’s runaway inflation will be cured.

Concerns have grown this year as Turkey looks to burn $24bn in foreign exchange reserves through the end of 2022 as it attempts to shore up the lira and finance a current account deficit running near record levels. In an effort to keep the economy afloat, the government has had to resort to an increasing number of other tools.

Turkish bonds have taken a beating, while the cost of insuring against default has been high since the first round of elections on May 14 made clear that Erdogan is likely to remain at Turkey’s helm.

In his victory speech on Sunday evening, the president emphasized his signature policies, saying that addressing inflation and cost-of-living pressures were “the most urgent matters for the days ahead.”

He said, ‘If someone can do it, I can too. “(The central bank’s key policy rate) has now been reduced to 8.5 per cent and you will see that inflation will also fall.”

Yet wooing investors will also require repairing tarnished relations with Turkey’s traditional partners, said Jay Truesdale, chief executive of political risk consultancy Verity Worldwide. Dropping Sweden’s opposition to NATO entry “will help begin to thaw some of Turkey’s very icy relations with its allies, which see Erdoğan pursuing policies he assesses to be in Turkey’s national interests”. do, not necessarily in the interests of its alliances”.

Erdogan told supporters on Sunday that “no one can point their finger at Turkey”, after boasting of congratulatory calls pouring in from leaders around the world. Analysts said Turkey’s mission to make it a larger, independent player in international affairs is likely to remain a priority.

“By the time he’s done, he wants to be able to say the country is no longer dependent on its Western treaty allies, free to be its own pivot,” said Selim Koru, an analyst at the Ankara-based Tepaw think tank. ” tank.

Oğuzlu of Istanbul Aydın University said that Ankara’s foreign policy of “strategic autonomy” would continue. “Relationships with the US and the EU will remain transactional, not based on common values.”

A shift from Erdogan’s core conservative values ​​has included recruiting a small party to his coalition that argues women do not belong in the workplace. He has sharpened his rhetoric against minority groups and on Sunday lashed out at political rivals for claiming he is “LGBT”.

He also vowed that he would never spare Selhattin Demirtas, a popular Kurdish politician jailed in 2016 for his political speeches.

Koru said, “Erdogan definitely has a vision for the future.” “His genius is going about it very slowly. one step at a time.”

Additional reporting by Fanja Guler in Ankara

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan climbed atop a bus in his hometown of Istanbul to declare victory in Turkey’s ongoing election on Sunday evening.

“We will be in the grave together,” Erdoğan declared to thunderous applause from the balcony of his sprawling 1,100-room palace before heading to the capital city Ankara to deliver a ceremonial victory speech to a large crowd of supporters.

Erdogan’s victory in Sunday’s run-off election against Kemal Kilikdaroglu made the president, Turkey’s most influential politician since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who shaped the country of 85 million people a century ago. Will give a new mandate. But it also risks deepening the nation’s division along ideological lines.

“He managed to split Turkey . . . into two factions, for or against Erdoğan,” said Emre Peker at the Eurasia Group. passing through, Erdoğan can still win elections on identity politics.”

Erdogan’s staunch supporters, a sizable group of devout, conservative voters in Turkey’s vast Anatolian heartland, are betting the 69-year-old will stick to his nationalist pledges, building Turkey into a more powerful player in international politics and the global economy. do.

Critics worry that his re-election, which extends his rule to a third decade, will hasten a slide toward autocracy and reinforce his preference for unorthodox economic policies that have ignited a painful cost of life crisis. and sent the lira to a record low.

But Kılıçdaroğlu’s warnings that the election was one last chance to “close the gates of hell” failed to resonate with most Turks, many of whom feel an emotional connection to their leader of 20 years, Istanbul Aydın University said Professor Tariq Oğzulu.

“People clearly didn’t buy the opposition’s argument that this was a referendum between democracy or illiberal authoritarianism,” he said. “Many parts of society have benefited from the transfer of wealth (Erdoğan) was able to exploit during the campaign, warning: ‘If I leave, you’ll lose what you’ve achieved’.”

You are viewing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is probably due to being offline or JavaScript is disabled in your browser.

Kılıçdaroğlu, backed by a six-party opposition coalition, won only 47.9 percent of the vote in Sunday’s second-round presidential election, compared with 52.1 percent for Erdogan, according to provisional figures from Turkey’s election board. The parliamentary coalition led by the ruling Justice and Development Party, under which Erdogan first gained power in 2002, also did well in the first round of elections held on 14 May, retaining its majority in the legislative branch.

Election observers have argued that while voting in Turkey remains largely free, Erdoğan enjoys unfair advantages, including a compliant mainstream press, which largely ignores the opposition and the state for pre-election gifts. Used the money.

That spending, and Erdogan’s growth-at-all-cost strategy for the economy, means he now has to deal with Turkey’s financial hangover.

Foreign investors have fled Turkey’s markets in recent years, with the country’s shares and bond holdings plunging to historic lows as concerns grew over Erdoğan’s economic policies, including his insistence that interest rate cuts be avoided. Turkey’s runaway inflation will be cured.

Concerns have grown this year as Turkey looks to burn $24bn in foreign exchange reserves through the end of 2022 as it attempts to shore up the lira and finance a current account deficit running near record levels. In an effort to keep the economy afloat, the government has had to resort to an increasing number of other tools.

Turkish bonds have taken a beating, while the cost of insuring against default has been high since the first round of elections on May 14 made clear that Erdogan is likely to remain at Turkey’s helm.

In his victory speech on Sunday evening, the president emphasized his signature policies, saying that addressing inflation and cost-of-living pressures were “the most urgent matters for the days ahead.”

He said, ‘If someone can do it, I can too. “(The central bank’s key policy rate) has now been reduced to 8.5 per cent and you will see that inflation will also fall.”

Yet wooing investors will also require repairing tarnished relations with Turkey’s traditional partners, said Jay Truesdale, chief executive of political risk consultancy Verity Worldwide. Dropping Sweden’s opposition to NATO entry “will help begin to thaw some of Turkey’s very icy relations with its allies, which see Erdoğan pursuing policies he assesses to be in Turkey’s national interests”. do, not necessarily in the interests of its alliances”.

Erdogan told supporters on Sunday that “no one can point their finger at Turkey”, after boasting of congratulatory calls pouring in from leaders around the world. Analysts said Turkey’s mission to make it a larger, independent player in international affairs is likely to remain a priority.

“By the time he’s done, he wants to be able to say the country is no longer dependent on its Western treaty allies, free to be its own pivot,” said Selim Koru, an analyst at the Ankara-based Tepaw think tank. ” tank.

Oğuzlu of Istanbul Aydın University said that Ankara’s foreign policy of “strategic autonomy” would continue. “Relationships with the US and the EU will remain transactional, not based on common values.”

A shift from Erdogan’s core conservative values ​​has included recruiting a small party to his coalition that argues women do not belong in the workplace. He has sharpened his rhetoric against minority groups and on Sunday lashed out at political rivals for claiming he is “LGBT”.

He also vowed that he would never spare Selhattin Demirtas, a popular Kurdish politician jailed in 2016 for his political speeches.

Koru said, “Erdogan definitely has a vision for the future.” “His genius is going about it very slowly. one step at a time.”

Additional reporting by Fanja Guler in Ankara