President Tayyip Erdogan denied predictions in the first round of the presidential election that he would disappear from Turkish politics and received a new five-year term with a strong mix of religious conservatism and nationalism now pushing him into his third decade in power. Kemal Kilichdargol actually had no chance.

• Erdogan announced his victory on the campaign bus
• VIDEO Erdoğan distributed money to his supporters at the exit from the polling station

Erdogan’s supporters gathered at Erdogan’s residence in Istanbul, chanting Allahu Akbar, or God is the greatest. “I expect things to get better,” said Nisa, 28, a woman wearing a headscarf and a headband bearing Erdogan’s name.

His victory will bolster the image of invincibility for Erdogan, who has already reimagined the domestic, economic, security and foreign policy of the NATO member nation of 85 million people.

Critics say the next five years in office risk further damaging democracy, which they say has been undermined by Erdogan as he has amassed power over successive terms, “silenced” dissent, silenced critics and opponents and taken control of the media , the judicial system and the economy. .

Erdogan wins 2023 presidential election despite appearing to go into election with many flaws

Erdogan entered the second round of the presidential election with a “bag of flaws”: his economic policies, which have led to record inflation and a spectacular devaluation of the lira, devastating earthquakes that devastated the center and south of the country in February, and show wide irregularities in the issuance of building permits, and as well as health problems that made themselves known during the election campaign.

But the current president overcame all these problems and defied public opinion polls even before the first round.

A few days before the first round of presidential elections, Recep Erdogan announced that his government would increase the salaries of hundreds of thousands of public sector workers by almost 50%.

The Turkish president has fierce loyalty from loyal Turks who once felt disenfranchised in secular Turkey, and his political career has seen failed coups and corruption scandals.

“Turkey has a long democratic tradition and a long nationalist tradition, and now the nationalist is clearly winning,” said Nicholas Danforth, a historian of Turkey. “Erdogan has mixed religious and national pride, offering voters an aggressive anti-elitism.”

“People know who he is and what his vision is for the country, and a lot of them seem to approve.”

Erdogan has taken control of most of Turkey’s institutions and ousted liberals and critics. Human Rights Watch said in its 2022 World Report that Erdogan’s government has set human rights back decades.

Erdogan’s dominance of the country’s media gave him a major advantage over his opponent in the election campaign, as his speeches were often covered live while his opponent received limited coverage.

In February, earthquakes killed more than 50,000 people and devastated southern Turkey, and it was expected to cause major problems for Erdogan in the election. However, his AKP remained dominant in this region on May 14 in the first round.

Prison for a poem

Erdogan grew up in a poor area of ​​Istanbul, attended an Islamic vocational school, entered politics as the leader of a local youth party and became mayor of Istanbul in 1994.

He was jailed in 1999 for a poem he read in 1997 comparing mosques to barracks, minarets to bayonets, and worshipers to an army.

Rising to the national scene as chairman of the Justice and Development Party, he became prime minister in 2003.

His government reined in the Turkish army, which has toppled four governments since 1960, and in 2005 began negotiations to secure a decades-old bid to join the European Union, a process that has since stalled.

Erdogan’s strengths

When Erdogan came to power in 2003, Turkey was on the road to economic recovery and seemed like an incredible success story, and was the envy of its neighbors.

The man himself, the son of a ship’s captain, is an intuitive and charismatic politician who electrifies the election campaign thanks to a natural connection with the enthusiastic masses across Anatolia.

Supporters and even critics credit Erdogan and his team with the first achievements: improving the lives of the poor by providing electricity and water, increasing per capita income, sharing resources, health care, building new schools, clinics, roads, bridges and airports.

Supporters and even liberal critics say Erdogan has also left his mark by boosting Turkey’s profile as a regional power and lifting a veil ban that allowed conservative women to work in the public sector and attend university freely.

But, critics say, it has also created a new class of corrupt oligarchs, the Anatolian Tigers—entrepreneurs and construction magnates with vested interests who have replaced the traditional conglomerates of the secularist camp.

Sliding towards autocracy

After successive electoral victories, Erdogan’s tolerance for any challenge to his authority disappeared, and the slide towards an autocratic regime became more and more overt. He devastated the most important organs of the state. Former close associates joined the opposition.

Critics say Erdogan’s victory could herald an even greater crackdown on political enemies and the remaining independent institutions.

Asli Aydintasbas of the Brookings Institution noted that Sunday’s vote was not just about democracy, but about returning Turkey to rule for all citizens. “There is a feeling that everything depends on the whims of one person – that all decisions are made by President Erdogan, from small things to state affairs. And people, even those who love him, have begun to perceive this as a danger to the government,” she said.

After the coup attempt in 2016, the authorities launched a large-scale crackdown, jailing more than 77,000 people pending trial. Human rights groups say Turkey has become the world’s largest jailer of journalists for a time.

Erdogan’s government said the purge was justified by threats from coup supporters as well as Islamic State and the PKK.

Sources: Reuters and HotNews.