Election set to shape Erdogan’s legacy
ISTANBUL: Turks began voting yesterday in the closest parliamentary election in more than a decade, one that could pave the way for President Tayyip Erdogan to amass greater power or end 12 years of singleparty rule for the AK Party he founded.
A deadly bombing in the mainly Kurdish southeast on Friday has put attention on the pro-Kurdish opposition, which is trying to enter parliament as a party for the first time. Efforts to end a three-decade Kurdish insurgency as well as Mr Erdogan’s political ambitions could hinge on that party’s fate.
Mr Erdogan is a popular but divisive politician. He seeks a large majority for the ruling AK Party to boost his powers. He says a US-style executive presidency is necessary to bolster the regional influence and economic advances of Natomember Turkey.
“They say ‘If Erdogan gets what he wants on Sunday he will be unstoppable’,” he told a rally in the northeastern province of Ardahan on Saturday. “They actually mean Turkey will be unstoppable.”
In power since 2002, the AKP is expected to again be the largest party by far. But achieving a majority may depend on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) falling below the 10% hurdle required to enter parliament. Opinion polls put it around that level.
Polling stations opened at 8am (noon, Thai time) and some of the country’s 54 million voters began voting, including in the HDP stronghold of Diyarbakir in the mainly Kurdish southeast. “I am certain the HDP will exceed the threshold. My only worry is the theft of votes,” social services worker Bahar Haram, 25, said, highlighting a fear of election fraud among some voters.
Like many people in the region, her priority was an end to the conflict between Ankara and the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which took up arms in 1984 in an insurgency in which 40,000 people have died.
“We want peace. That’s all we want. We want this horrible war and fighting to come to an end. If people steal votes, I fear there is going to be a bigger war,” Mr Haram said in the garden of a school after voting.
Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and the state launched peace talks more than two years ago and advancing the process could hinge on the outcome of the election.
Polling stations closed at 9pm, Thai time. The first results were set to be announced after press time last night.
While constitutionally required to stay above party politics, Mr Erdogan has held frequent rallies during what has been a confrontational election campaign, joining Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in attacking opposition parties. The two have portrayed the poll as a choice between a “new Turkey” or a return to short-lived coalition governments, economic instability and military coups.
“Either the stability of the last 12 years will continue, or there will be the crisis scenario of those who want to take Turkey back to the chaos and crisis atmosphere of the 1990s,” Mr Davutoglu told a rally in the southern city of Antalya.