The decision, no matter how big, took months to make; even years of debate over who will be responsible for facing the long-lived and seemingly indestructible Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in power Turkey since 2003. endless meetings, conspiracy leaksexaggerated accusations, back stabbing and the earthquake that hit the south of the country exactly one month ago, in which many people died. 50,000 people and completely changed his order Turkish politics.
Finally, this Monday the entire Turkish opposition united and unanimously chose the party candidate, although the breakout seemed almost certain this weekend. May 14 Presidential election. He will be the leader of the main opposition party. Kemal Kilicdaroglu. It was never the favorite of either the ballot boxes or their supporters, which gave more chances to the beloved mayors of Istanbul. Ankara. Both defeated candidates from Erdogan’s party. 2019 turkey local elections.
Kilicdaroglu, 74, liberal centre-left bureaucrat, a little charismatic, but able to hold the opposition together. It’s hard work to do this: deep nationalist right up formations communists or pro-Kurdish Left Party, Third in parliamentary representation in Anatolian country.
“Dear friends, dear people, no one should be afraid. Nobody should be nervous. We will take power. We have a long way to go,” he said. presidential system The return to a “more democratic” parliamentary system that Erdogan created with the 2017 referendum.
Earthquake and presidential popularity
In Turkey for months nobody talked about anything else: What will happen on that Sunday, what will Erdogan do, which candidate will come up against him… Is there really a chance that the party of the Supreme President of Turkey will fall from power? 20 years later to collect? According to the vast majority of the polls, the odds were real: Erdogan’s popularity, badly affected by the severe inflationary crisis in Turkey, record lows.
And then, just a month ago, it came Earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale The one that shook the southeast of Anatolia and left many provinces in the region completely destroyed. At least 50,000 people died; Millions have lost absolutely everything.
The government’s acceptance of some criticisms, that is, the late response of the authorities to the earthquake, emergency services They were unable to reach many affected areas until a few days after the earthquake – Turkish government netizens began arresting those who made comments against Erdogan, shutting down internet forums, and subtle opposition channels among other issues, for stating that the affected area is missing relief material and tent for people who have lost their homes.
A month later, the situation remains similar: activists moved to the state. errormake sure there is no access to the most affected, for example drinking water in the region.
Meanwhile, pre-election campaign It has already started and everyone, the government and the opposition, is melting to do it. promises of restructuring and development for an area deleted from the map. Erdogan – experts see this as impossible – promises that the restructuring will be completed within a year. For those who have lost everything, the wait will be long.