"What will be the Turkey of tomorrow?": in the aftermath of its defeat, the Turkish opposition grinds black

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in power for twenty years, emerged victorious this Sunday in the second round of the presidential election in Turkey. The president won despite the unprecedented union of his opponents.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu upon his arrival at his party's headquarters on May 28, 2023. AFP - BULENT KILIC

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With our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer

Recep Tayyip Erdogan won 52% of the vote, according to partial results, and thus began a new mandate and a third decade in power. His rival Kemal Kiliçdaroglu finished the race with 48%. This is yet another defeat for the Turkish opposition against Recep Tayyip Erdogan who seems more unbeatable than ever.

The president has won every national election since the ones that brought him to power in 2002. Certainly, as an all-powerful president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had huge advantages over his opponent such as control of the media, state resources, the ability to offer wage increases or free gas bills, as he did before the election.

But the opposition also left with advantages: an economic crisis of unprecedented magnitude for more than 20 years, the ruins of two major earthquakes that highlighted the weaknesses of power, the wear and tear of this same power... And yet, it was not enough.

>> READ ALSO: Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains master of Turkey after his victory in the presidential election

The defeat of the opposition is also due to the lack of a clear strategy. We saw it in the inter-rounds, when Kemal Kiliçdaroglu disappeared from the radar for three days before resurfacing with a new campaign marked very right-wing, aggressive, anti-refugees... This may have won him votes among the most nationalistic Turks, but it may have cost him in Kurdish-majority regions, where voters turned out less for him.

Kemal Kiliçdaroglu was counting on the massive mobilisation of his electorate to win. Finally, turnout is down, to 84%, compared to 87 in the first round 15 days ago.

« Darkness is all I see for the future."

And in the ranks of those who mobilized, the shock of defeat adds to worries about the future. After the results were announced on Sunday, the headquarters of Kemal Kiliçdaroglu's CHP party quickly emptied. "Darkness is all I see for the future. A future where we can no longer be sure of anything, where the country is ruled by conspiracy theories, by totally unpredictable decisions," said Serhat, 32.

Ozgun has also lost all hope: "It'sbeen too long. I feel like half the country is not experiencing the same reality as we are and I am really afraid that it will get worse and worse.

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Tonight, I am thinking first of women and children. It was already very difficult to be a woman in Turkey, to have the social life, the studies, the freedoms that you want. What will be the Turkey of tomorrow for us, for our sisters, for our daughters? What security will we have? " asks Cagla, a thirty-year-old who almost has tears in her eyes. "I didn't want to think of the worst, but the worst is probably yet to come. And for the rest, it's the same: the economy, refugees... All our problems will get worse. " she predicts.

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  • Turkey
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan