Tens of millions of Turks went to the polls today to decide the country's presidential and parliamentary elections, with rivals Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu expecting a close run. But this is not just a personal battle between the two older leaders, but also a war of worldviews that will manifest itself at the ballot box.
Erdogan, 69, who has ruled Turkey for two decades and was behind its transformation into an Islamic state with an authoritarian presidential regime, holds the following positions:Regime:
After concentrating almost all governmental powers in his hands and taking practical control of the executive, parliamentary and judicial branches, Erdogan announced over the weekend that he is considering changing the presidential election system so that the president-elect does not have to receive more than 50% of the total votes and thus there will be no need to establish a union between several parties, As happened in the current election campaign
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at an election conference, photo: AP
International relations: Erdogan has a fairly close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and strained ties with the democratic US administration and the European Union. Erdogan greatly strengthened his country's ties with Islamist countries and promoted the status of the Muslim Brotherhood. After the failure of his efforts to turn Turkey into a regional power as the representative of political Islam, Erdogan is now working to rehabilitate his country's relations with countries neighboring Turkey, which were harmed by his previous policies, including Israel and Greece.
Military: During the years of his presidency, Erdogan worked to increase financial and technological investments in the Turkish army and sent the Turkish army for operational activity outside the borders of his country.
Israel: During his rule, Erdogan used Israel for his own purposes: when he needed it, he tightened cooperation with it, when confrontation with it served his standing at home and abroad, he created crisis after crisis and brought relations between the two countries to an unprecedented low. Now, in light of Turkey's very difficult economic situation, Erdogan needs economic cooperation with Israel, and therefore he has allowed normalization of relations. It could collapse in any given deficit, depending on his needs, if he is reelected. It should be noted that in the face of Operation Shield and Arrow, Erdogan refrained from angry attacks against Israel. Among other things, because the operation is not directed against Hamas, its ally.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
Kilicdaroğlu, 74, a former senior official who headed Turkey's social security and began his political career quite late in life, has been chairman of the main opposition Republican, secular and social-democratic-oriented party since 2010. Because of his appearance, he is called "the Turkish Gandhi" and is considered a stark contrast to Erdogan due to his character and positions. If elected president, he is expected to bring about the following changes:Regime:
Kilicdaroglu pledged to work to restore the parliamentary system of government, to re-transfer powers from the president to the prime minister, thereby restoring the government's executive character and guaranteeing the independence of the judicial system. The opposition leader promised to reestablish freedom of the press and expression and restore minorities' rights that had been restricted under Erdogan's administration. Kilicdaroglu is interested in the establishment of liberal democracy.
Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu Photo: Reuters
International relations: The principles of Turkish foreign policy under Kılıçdaroğlu will be peace, good relations with the countries neighboring Turkey and non-interference in the affairs of other countries. While Kılıçdaroğlu wishes to maintain good traditional relations with Russia, he declared: "We will remind Russia that Turkey is a member of NATO." Kılıçdaroğlu will resume the process of rapprochement between Turkey and the EU, although the chances of Turkey's integration into the EU now appear extremely slim.
Army:Kılıçdaroğlu will continue to strengthen the Turkish army, but will refrain from sending it out of Turkey. It is expected to act to quickly return the Turkish military forces in northern Syria and stop attacks on Kurdish targets in northern Syria and northern Iraq.
Israel: A new Turkish government is expected to gradually strengthen relations with Israel and increase economic and technological cooperation with it in various fields, in order to help Turkey emerge from its deep economic crisis.
In light of the fact that several polls conducted in recent days predicted a victory for Kilicdaroglu in the first round of voting today, and fears of an organized violent reaction by Erdogan's supporters to the election results, employees at embassies and foreign organizations have been asked to refrain from going to work on Monday and to stock up on food and medicine that will last at least a week.
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