Who’s who in the Turkish elections?

By admin On May 11, 2023

Sunday’s vote will decide whether the Erdogan era ends, and might have major geopolitical consequences

Some 64 million Turkish citizens are expected to vote in Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections. The showdown between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu will determine whether or not Türkiye turns back to the West, while dozens of parties will fight it out for control of the country’s 600-seat legislature.

The geopolitical stakesShould Erdogan emerge victorious, Türkiye will likely stay on its current path of relative geopolitical independence. Although Türkiye is a member of the NATO alliance, Erdogan has deepened trade and diplomatic relations with Russia, while refusing to sanction Moscow for its military operation in Ukraine. Under Erdogan, Türkiye’s EU membership talks have stalled since 2016, with the president ignoring Brussels’ warnings that his 2017 constitutional reforms would imperil the country’s bid to join the bloc.

If Kilicdaroglu wins, he has promised to immediately restart EU membership talks and align Türkiye’s domestic policies with those of the bloc. This would entail complying with the directives of the European Court of Human Rights and releasing prisoners the Erdogan government considers terrorists.

Kilicdaroglu has vowed to repair his country’s strained ties with its NATO allies, and to comply with the US’ sanctions on Russia. Although he has said that he would maintain economic ties with Russia and would be open to hosting peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, he recently said that he would “also remind Russia that Türkiye is a member of NATO.”

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Who’s who in the Turkish elections?

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Who’s who in the Turkish elections?

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