Having surpassed Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, as the longest-serving leader of the country, Erdogan aspires to be re-elected to continue leading the country in 2023 where the first hundred years of the republic are. famous.

The president promised that as a birthday gift he would lead Turkey to be “among the top ten powers in the world in areas such as politics, economy, technology, weapons and diplomacy.” The problem is that a serious economic crisis, with 44 percent inflation, and the mismanagement of an earthquake three months ago could have dire consequences for a leader who has divided the country in two: a pro-Erdogan and an anti-Erdogan Turkey.

Kilicdaroglu managed to unite the opposition parties under the same umbrella. The formation of very different political voices together with the sole aim of ending 20 years of Erdoganism. To them will be added the votes of the Green Left Party, a Kurdish formation which is the country’s third political force and came up with a new acronym for fear of making the previous one illegal. Kurdish support was decisive for the Islamists of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to lose the mayor of Istanbul or Bursa in the municipal elections in 2019 and this time they hope to be decisive again. “First we have to get rid of Erdogan and then we can sit down and talk because right now there is no democratic climate that will allow us to negotiate,” said Ceylan Akça, a Kurdish party candidate for a parliament they hope to send 100 deputies.

Another factor strengthening the opposition is the desire for change among young voters. In this election some 5 million Turks will be voting for the first time, they are young people who have known only one leader since birth and, according to opinion polls that have been published, the majority support change. Turkish analysts such as Yildiray Ogur, who during the first years supported Erdogan’s government, considered that “this is our last chance, or the president leaves or the road to totalitarianism will not back down for our system.”

Russia and the United States entered the arena

One of the novelties of the final hours of the campaign was the inclusion of the United States and Russia in the speeches of the main candidates. Kilicdaroglu accused Moscow of wanting to meddle in the election with a series of manipulated videos and Erdogan immediately jumped to the defense of a country that has become one of his closest allies. The opposition leader denounced on Twitter the spread of “certain assemblies and conspiracies” created by Moscow and asked them to “refrain from intervening in the Turkish state. We are open to maintaining cooperation and friendship.”

The Kremlin has denied involvement, and Erdogan said at his last rally that “now Mr. Kemal is starting to make fun of Russia. He is saying that Moscow rigged the election. Aren’t you ashamed? You must be ashamed. What would you say if we said that the United States , Great Britain, and Germany are holding elections?«

Erdogan’s Turkey has been a key corridor for Russian imports and exports, but there is no indication that a change in president will mean a change in foreign policy. The president seized every second the law allowed and accused his rival of “serving Joe Biden.”

Then he went to pray at the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque as a final gesture to the most conservative voters, who have remained loyal to him thanks to decisions like turning this shrine in Istanbul that was born as a church 1,500 years ago into a church. mosque.