Recep Tayyip Erdogan doesn’t really have time to enjoy his electoral triumph, The Financial Times wrote on Monday in an editorial cited by Rador.

After declaring victory in the second round of Sunday’s presidential election, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his cheering supporters: “Turkey is the only winner.” Yet while the president’s longtime supporters celebrate, millions of other Turks are looking down in bewilderment, suffering at the thought that their polarized country will have to endure five more years of an authoritarian leader. And they are right to worry. Even Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for two decades, must have realized that the time to bask in triumph is running out if he is to keep the country from plunging further into economic crisis.

The elections took place against the background of an acute crisis in the standard of living, a record devaluation of the national currency and 44% inflation. The crisis is largely caused by Erdogan’s unorthodox economic policies: he opposed raising interest rates at a time when inflation was exploding and curtailed the independence of the central bank.

Pressure on the increasingly impoverished public finances will increase with a series of high-profile election announcements, including changes to the pension age and pay rises for civil servants. According to Financial Times calculations based on official data, the country’s foreign exchange and gold reserves fell to $17 billion in the six weeks before the May 14 runoff as Erdogan sought to shore up the economy and national currency ahead of the vote. The state is also struggling with a near-record current account deficit.

But Erdogan’s policies, combined with his penchant for Western allies and his authoritarian tendencies, have long alienated foreign investors who could have provided much-needed cash now. This situation is not sustainable. The government is draining its resources trying to protect the pound.

Erdogan must abandon his personal whims, return to traditional monetary policy and take serious measures to restore trust in public institutions. Only then will Ankara have a chance to convince reluctant investors to return. But if Erdogan continues to behave as usual, the West can look forward to another era of unpredictable and unstable relations with this NATO member.

“Erdogan’s opponents behind bars”

There are also concerns about what an Erdogan victory could mean for the country’s democracy. Since he first brought his Justice and Development Party (AKP) to power 21 years ago, he has consolidated his power and centralized decision-making to unprecedented levels, approaching an autocratic regime. After a constitutional referendum in 2017, he replaced Turkey’s parliamentary democracy with an all-powerful executive presidential regime. Now the elections are held in unequal conditions. The established mass media were mostly under the control of the government. His opponents, including politicians, journalists, scientists and businessmen, are behind bars.

Also on the list of prisoners is Selahattin Demirtaş, leader of the Kurdish-dominated People’s Democratic Party (HDP), who has been in prison since 2016. The threat of exclusion from political life – perhaps even imprisonment – ​​also loomed large. Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and one of the leaders of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition force, after being convicted in December of insulting election officials.

Many other Turks will likely fear for their civil liberties. On the campaign trail, Erdogan, who courted ultra-nationalists, repeatedly attacked his opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu for advocating for LGBT rights and supporting terrorists, a thinly veiled hint of his courting of Kurdish voters.

The president’s supporters will cite the new election victory as further evidence of Erdogan’s continued popularity. But the reality is that Erdogan was forced into a runoff after neither he nor Kilicdaroglu failed to get more than 50%, underscoring the political gulf between those who admire him and those who hate him. Constitutionally, this should be Erdogan’s last term. And if that is indeed the case in practice, he would be wise to reflect on the legacy he wants to leave behind. But whichever course he chooses, Turkey still risks getting into troubled waters.