Elections in Turkey: political prisoners hope for Erdogan's defeat

Political prisoners and their relatives hope for a defeat of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the double legislative-presidential election of May 14, 2023. AP - Burhan Ozbilici

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

In less than three weeks, on May 14, 2023, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will put his mandate as president at stake in an election considered crucial for Turkey's future. For the first time in the Turkish leader's 20 years in power, the opposition has united behind a candidate and looks set to win. This prospect raises great hopes among political prisoners and their relatives.

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer

A possible fall of Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the double presidential and legislative elections on 14th May is in the minds of Turkish political prisoners. This includes seven civil society figures, including patron Osman Kavala, who were sentenced last year to long prison terms for their alleged role in the 2013 Gezi anti-government protests.

For 52 weeks, Meric Kahraman, the wife of urban planner Tayfun Kahraman, has only been able to see her husband for an hour every Friday in Silivri prison with their three-and-a-half-year-old daughter. On 25 April 2022, the urban planner was sentenced to 18 years in prison for "attempting to overthrow the government" during the Gezi protests.

Because their case is empty of evidence and they have been designated by President Erdogan, Amnesty International considers Tayfun Kahraman and his fellow detainees to be "prisoners of conscience". With less than three weeks to go before an election that could bring the opposition to power, Meric Kahraman is hopeful:

« We have no option but to win this election. I'm not just saying this for my family... Society can no longer live in this permanent tension, with this discourse that divides us, pits us against each other. As soon as power has changed, as soon as the pressure on the judiciary has been lifted, as soon as we can talk about law again in this country, then our loved ones will be released from prison. Because this trial is nothing but a political trial. »

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main rival, Social Democrat Kemal Kilicdaroglu, is promising an independent judiciary, and therefore the release of political prisoners. To urban planner Tayfun Kahraman, he promised a role in the executive.

► To listen also Elections in Turkey: what support for Recep Tayyip Erdogan?

Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Read on on the same topics:

• Turkey
• Recep Tayyip Erdogan
• Human rights