Correspondent in Istanbul,
Never has the Turkish election been so eagerly awaited, debated and followed in every detail. At the end of a campaign punctuated by clashes and twists and turns, Turkish voters are called this Sunday to elect their president and their new Parliament. The stakes are high. After twenty years of rule by Erdogan and his party, the AKP, at the gates of a once coveted Europe, two models are opposed at the ballot box: an authoritarian, centralised regime, tinged with an Islamo-nationalist identity shaped by Turkey's current strongman; and an inclusive alternative, open to different currents, in a hurry to restore the rule of law, the parliamentary regime, to put an end to nepotism and to break with the bellicose rhetoric that has polarized society in recent years. Never has the election looked so much like a referendum "for or against" Erdogan, where, in the words of Turkish journalist Cengiz Çandar, "the rescue of democracy defies the...
This article is for subscribers only. You still have 83% to discover.
Want to read more?
Unblock all items immediately.
TEST FOR 0,99€
Already a subscriber? Log