Presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey will be held in May after the holy month of Ramadan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday, according to AFP and Reuters, cited by Reuters.

Without specifying the date of the vote, Erdogan hinted that it would take place “73 years” after the May 14, 1950, victory of the Democratic Party (conservative).

“Our people will say no to Table 6 (the platform of the Turkish opposition) on the same day as 73 years ago,” said the head of state at a meeting with elected officials of his Justice and Development Party. (PSR, conservative). Ramadan takes place in 2023 from March 23 to April 21.

AKP has been in power in Turkey since 2002. Erdoğan, who will run for a new mandate, became prime minister in 2003 before becoming president, elected by direct popular vote, in 2014 after a constitutional amendment.

The Turkish opposition has declared its intention to return to the parliamentary regime in case of victory.

In the elections of May 14, 1950, the Democratic Party, founded in 1946 by Adnan Menderes and his supporters, dissidents from Mustafa Kemal’s formation, won.

Ten years later, it was removed from power in a coup d’état, and then disbanded. Erdogan has repeatedly compared himself to Adnan Menderes.

Recep Erdogan is sending a clear message to his supporters

Nicknamed “Atatürk”, Mustafa Kemal is considered the father of modern Turkey, the Constitution adopted during his time stipulates, among other things, that the army is the guarantor of the secular character of the Turkish state.

In the second half of the 20th century, the Turkish military intervened several times to remove from power Islamic parties that advocated the repeal of Kemal’s reforms.

An attempted coup by the Turkish military in 2016 is believed to have been aimed at ousting Erdogan and his AKP party.

Erdogan’s regime then carried out a massive purge of the country’s armed forces, as well as the judiciary, education and public administration.

Turkey continues to arrest and deport people accused of links to cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan accuses of orchestrating the coup attempt.

The decision in the summer of 2020 to strip Hagia Sophia of its museum status and turn it into a mosque is seen as one of Erdogan’s most overt signals about the secularization of the Turkish state.