Turkey President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan's AKP wins critical vote!
-Dr.
Abdul Ruff
___________
Turkey's long-dominant Justice and Development
Party (AKP) scored a stunning electoral comeback on November 01, regaining its
parliamentary majority in a poll seen as crucial for the future of the troubled
country.
The AKP party founded by President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan won over 49 percent of the vote to secure 315 seats in the 550-member
parliament with nearly all votes counted, easily enough to form a government on
its own. "Today is a day of victory," a beaming Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu told a crowd of supporters in his hometown. "The victory belongs
to the people."
The outcome was a
shock to many as opinion polls had predicted a replay of the June election when
the AKP won only 40 percent of the vote and lost its majority for the first
time in 13 years.
It is however a huge personal victory for
61-year-old Erdogan, Turkey's divisive strongman who may now be able to secure
enough support for his controversial ambitions to expand his role into a
powerful US-style executive presidency.
As Turkey is facing too many problems after it
challenged Israel over the latter’s attack on Turkish aidship bound for Gaza
Strip with humanitarian aid, on
international waters a few years ago, Turks voted in large numbers, with the
country deeply polarized in the face of renewed Kurdish violence and a wave of
bloody jihadist attacks along with mounting concerns about democracy and the
faltering economy.
And underscoring one of the key challenges ahead
for a new AKP administration, police fired tear gas and water cannon on
protesting Kurdish militants who set fire to tyres and pallets in the main
Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. "Sense of instability in Turkey, coupled with
Erdogan's 'strong man who can protect you' strategy has worked," Soner
Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute
for Near East Policy said on Twitter.
During the election campaign, Erdogan declared
that only he and his loyal Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu could guarantee
security, criss-crossing the country with the message: "It's me or
chaos."
A report by the Brookings Institution think-tank
had warned that whatever the outcome, "the challenges facing Turkey are
growing by the day". It highlighted the Kurdish crisis, the parlous state
of the economy and the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
The political landscape has changed dramatically
in Turkey since June, with the country even more divided along ethnic and
sectarian lines.
Many Turks are fearful of a return to all-out
war with outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels after fresh violence
shattered a 2013 truce in July, just a month after a pro-Kurdish party won
seats for the first time and denied Erdogan's AKP a majority.
This time round, the People's Democratic Party
(HDP), led by charismatic lawyer Selahattin Demirtas, lost support but appeared
to have scraped over the 10 percent threshold to stay in parliament.
The vote for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)
fell to around 11 percent from 16 percent in June, with commentators suggesting
its supporters had shifted to the AKP.
The main opposition Republican People's Party
(CHP) had about 23 percent.
The threat of further jihadist violence had
overshadowed the poll after a string of attacks blamed on the Islamic State
group, including twin suicide bombings on an Ankara peace rally last month that
killed 102 people -- the bloodiest in Turkey's modern history.
The election board said 85 percent of the 54
million registered voters cast their ballots, topping the June election when
turnout was 84 percent.
There were queues at many polling stations
visited by AFP. "I'm very sorry but the results mean that the people are
comfortable with the current situation," said 22-year-old law student
Sevim. "People get the governments they deserve. So we got what we
deserve."
Erdogan, dubbed the "big master" or
"Sultan" who has dominated Turkey's political scene for more than a
decade, is revered and reviled in equal measure. He was hailed in the West for
creating what was once regarded as a model Muslim democracy but is now seen as
increasingly autocratic. Opponents fear that if he succeeds in expanding his
role into a powerful US-style executive presidency, it would mean fewer checks
and balances.
A string of high-profile raids against media
groups deemed hostile to Erdogan and the jailing of critical journalists have
set alarm bells ringing about the state of democracy in a country that has long
aspired to join the European Union (EU).
Turkey is also struggling with its policy on
neighbouring Syria which has left it at odds with its NATO allies, and the
burden of more than two million people who have taken refuge from a war well
into its fifth year.
After long supporting rebels fighting the
Damascus regime, Ankara was cajoled into joining the US-led coalition against
the IS group and launched its own "war on terrorism" targeting the
jihadists as well as PKK fighters.
Turkey's economy is also in trouble, with growth
slowing sharply from the dizzy heights of five years ago, unemployment rising
and the Turkish lira plunging more than 25 percent in value this year.
Today, Turkey is facing Kurdish crisis, is also discussing with EU leaders about its
full membership, coordinating with USA, among others, military operations in
Turkey, while fighting the forces that try to destabilize Turkey. .
But the result is a
major public relations victory for Erdogan shortly before he hosts world
leaders including US President Barack Obama at the G20 summit on November
15-16.
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