Two weeks before elections in Turkey, opinion polls show Erdogan losing to his main rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, in the second round. These measurements, of course, were made before the pro-Kurdish party declared its support for the leader of the main opposition. This fact could completely change the battle between the two leaders.
Erdogan returned to public appearances
Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his first public appearance on stage since his health problem, under the pressure of his campaign obligations ahead of the May 14 elections in Turkey.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan was recovering at home, as doctors recommended, after collapsing in a live broadcast during a television interview last Tuesday night, causing panic and an of comments about what was really happening to him. For the past three days, he has been performing duties via video conferences and visiting the technology fair at Istanbul’s old airport.
Erdogan sees Kilicdaroglu’s back
In terms of opinion polls, Kemal Kilicdaroglu leads with 49.4% against 47.1% for his opponent Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The poll was conducted between April 15 and 18, before Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s illness and before the pro-Kurdish party announced its direct support and urged voters to vote for the leader of the main opposition.
According to another count, in the first round Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to narrowly beat Kemal Kilicdaroglu with 43%, compared to 42% of his opponent, with Muarem Ince following with 8%. However, a reversal is predicted in the second round, with Kilinçdaroğlu garnering 51% of the vote and being elected president, compared to 49% for Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Finally, in the published Artibir poll, Kilicdaroglu is predicted to prevail in both rounds. Specifically, in the first round he predicts Kilicaroglu to gather 49.4% against 43.7% of the incumbent Turkish president, while in the second round there is a prediction of 53.6% against 46.4% of Erdogan.
Election observers are coming to Turkey
Meanwhile, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is sending observers to see if everything is done legally during the electoral process. The head of the mission will be Jan Petersen, who in an interview with Anadolu clarified that their mission will be “just neutral monitoring, without an agenda”.
“We are cooperating with the authorities, parties and media in Turkey, and we are also having discussions about election day. For a month now we have been in Turkey with 14 experts and 28 “long-term” observers throughout the country simply supervising whether everything is being done under international standards.
The reason we came so early is complex. It has to do with electoral law, the work that needs to be done, the situation in the media, election campaigns, candidacies… There are too many of them and we needed time to observe them. If there is a second election, then we will stay a few more weeks,” Petersen said. In the elections, Turkey will elect 600 members to Parliament. If the first election does not produce a result of self-reliance, it will become second on the 28th with the first two parties.
Erdogan invests in nationalism
Although tensions in Greek-Turkish relations had eased after the earthquakes of February 6, Tayyip Erdogan seems to be reinvesting in nationalism by making the “Blue Homeland” a central campaign slogan. The change in the Turkish president’s strategy came after opinion polls showed him in second place behind Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
On the other hand, the discussion about the expansion of Greek territorial waters has returned to the Turkish media, with Turkish journalists commenting on Hulusi Akar’s statements that he will not accept their extension. “Not even 6.01 miles will be accepted,” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.
“We will not even accept the 6.01 miles,” Akar says
Milliyet columnist Ozai Sedir commented: “If Greece extends its territorial waters from 6 miles to 12 miles in the Aegean Sea, the share left in Turkey is 7%. A ship travelling from Istanbul to Izmir would have to pass through Greek territorial waters three times. Turkey cannot accept this. These can be discussed.
“I asked Hulusi Akar about this and he has told me that we will not accept even the 6.01 miles. Not even 6.01 miles. “They will disembark in Izmir!” commented journalist Metehan Demir.
The provocative election spot
In the new campaign spot of the AKP, the party of Tayyip Erdogan, the doctrine of the “Blue Homeland” re-emerges as a central election narrative. The TV spot shows all the Greek islands of the Eastern Aegean under Turkish occupation.
In particular, the islands of, Chios, Samos, Kos and western Thrace appear under the Turkish crescent moon in an election spot of Erdogan’s AKP party. The 108-second commercial, featuring Turkey’s flag, was posted on AKP social media to mark “National Sovereignty Day and Children’s Day,” a national holiday for the neighboring country.
The anniversary was established by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as on April 23, 1920 the Turkish National Assembly was founded, which is a symbol of Turkey’s sovereignty and which was dedicated by the Turkish leader to children.
