Erdogan’s fate in the balance as Turkish voters head to the polls
The race is being closely watched around the world. Kilicdaroglu has promised to usher Turkey, a NATO member, into a new era by revitalizing democracy after years of government repression and refreshing ties with Turkey’s allies in the West. For his part, Erdogan has tried to highlight the strides Turkey took under his rule, as a country modernized by megaprojects like bridges and airports, and a global power that produced military weapons sought by foreign governments.
The trauma of the earthquakes in Turkey and neighboring Syria ensured a subdued run-up to the election, as Erdogan toured a string of devastated cities, asking for forgiveness and pledging to rebuild. Then his tone shifted, as polls showed the race was too close to call, or that Erdogan was trailing. In recent weeks, he has savagely attacked Kilicdaroglu and the opposition, accusing them of being backed by “terrorists” or Western powers, in comments that many saw as a desperate turn for the president, known for effortlessly outflanking weaker rivals.
On Saturday, Erdogan accused the United States of trying to interfere in the election. “Biden instructed, ‘We need to bring down Erdogan,’ he said during a speech in Istanbul. “Tomorrow, the ballot boxes will give Biden an answer as well.”
Erdogan, who rose to power as an Islamist politician, commands a loyal base of supporters, including Muslim conservatives whose rights and place in public life he has championed. Several years ago, Erdogan struck an alliance with a far-right party, ensuring his political survival. But some of the president’s supporters have wavered, put off by his failure to solve Turkey’s economic woes, including skyrocketing inflation, and his steady accumulation of power over virtually all the levers of state.
Kilicdaroglu, a soft-spoken former government bureaucrat who lacks Erdogan’s charisma, has delivered his messages of change to Turkey’s public through videos posted on Twitter and other social media platforms to evade the government’s stranglehold on the news media. On Thursday, a third-party candidate, Muharrem Ince, withdrew from the election, potentially providing a further boost to Kilicdaroglu.
In a tight race, Erdogan’s penchant for political survival above all else — and comments by some of his loyalists — has raised questions about the fairness of the election and whether the president will accept the results. But few in Turkey, where elections are held almost sacred, think he would try to cancel a vote, even one that resulted in his defeat.
“This a very silly question,” the president said in a nationally televised interview with journalists Friday. “We came to power in Turkey through a democratic way. We came to power with the trust of our people. Just as we came to power with the favor of our people, that is, if our nation makes a different decision, we will do exactly that, whatever the necessity of democracy. There is nothing else to do.”
Despite such assurances, there have been accusations of election tampering, including a claim by Kilicdaroglu on Thursday on Twitter that Russia was behind “montages, conspiracies, deepfake content and tapes,” he wrote, without providing evidence. Russia has denied the claims.
A statement by Twitter on Saturday that said the social media company had taken “action to restrict access to some content in Turkey” in response to what it said was a “legal process” and an effort to “ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey. In a separate tweet, Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, suggested the request to restrict content had come from Turkey’s government, and said he would post the request.
The Turkish government has throttled access to social media sites in the past, including during the recent earthquakes, according to monitoring groups.
