AFTER THE TURKISH ELECTION – YouTube
WIN meeting July 2023
Recep Erdogan has narrowly won the recent presidential election in Turkey on 52% of the vote, potentially extending the duration of his rule to a quarter of a century. But how stable is his autocratic regime?
Erdogan first won parliamentary elections in 2002 as prime minister at the head of the right-wing conservative party the AKP. Then, following an abortive coup in 2016, he seized sweeping extra-parliamentary dictatorial powers as president, purging the state apparatus, further intensifying attacks on the Kurdish minority, colluding in brutal attacks on protest demonstrations, and jailing hundreds of thousands of suspected opponents.
With inflation currently rising to an annual rate of 44%, the cost of food, rent and other everyday necessities has soared. The Turkish lira has hit record lows against the dollar and the central bank is running short of the surging demand for foreign currency.
Despite winning a majority in the main cities Ankara and Istanbul, the weak opposition candidate Kilicdaroglu failed expectations, leading an unstable coalition and making a shameful attempt to outstrip Erdogan in demagogic threats against the Kurdish minority and against Syrian refugees.
How stable is the Erdogan regime?
What is the explanation for his re-election?
What are the prospects for Turkey’s Kurdish population?
To what extent are the Turkish working class fighting back?
This week we were proud to introduce Nihat Halepli, a Kurdish socialist activist, a member of the Workers’ Party of Turkey and co-founder of the website https://www.sosyalist.info.
Image – “Election day in Turkey” by CharlesFred is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.
Recep Erdogan has narrowly won the recent presidential election in Turkey on 52% of the vote, potentially extending the duration of his rule to a quarter of a century. But how stable is his autocratic regime?
Erdogan first won parliamentary elections in 2002 as prime minister at the head of the right-wing conservative party the AKP. Then, following an abortive coup in 2016, he seized sweeping extra-parliamentary dictatorial powers as president, purging the state apparatus, further intensifying attacks on the Kurdish minority, colluding in brutal attacks on protest demonstrations, and jailing hundreds of thousands of suspected opponents.
With inflation currently rising to an annual rate of 44%, the cost of food, rent and other everyday necessities has soared. The Turkish lira has hit record lows against the dollar and the central bank is running short of the surging demand for foreign currency.
Despite winning a majority in the main cities Ankara and Istanbul, the weak opposition candidate Kilicdaroglu failed expectations, leading an unstable coalition and making a shameful attempt to outstrip Erdogan in demagogic threats against the Kurdish minority and against Syrian refugees.
How stable is the Erdogan regime?
What is the explanation for his re-election?
What are the prospects for Turkey’s Kurdish population?
To what extent are the Turkish working class fighting back?
This week we were proud to introduce Nihat Halepli, a Kurdish socialist activist, a member of the Workers’ Party of Turkey and co-founder of the website https://www.sosyalist.info.
Image – “Election day in Turkey” by CharlesFred is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.