The challenger Kılıçdaroğlu cannot end the head of state’s 20-year rule. Erdoğan remains president – and the next election campaign is already starting.
Nothing loves Recep Tayyip Erdoğan more than election campaigns. His runoff victory for the Turkish presidency had barely been confirmed late on Sunday, when the 69-year-old began campaigning for next year’s local elections, in which he wants to win back the metropolis of Istanbul for his AKP party. “With you we go to new victories,” Erdoğan said in a speech to fans in Istanbul. He then flew to Ankara, where he intended to deliver another victory speech later that night.
“We opened the door to Türkiye’s century,” Erdoğan said. The president has been in power for 20 years and has shaped the republic founded 100 years ago longer than any Turkish politician before him. After Sunday’s victory, he could reign until 2028; he has already discussed a constitutional amendment that would allow him to serve another term thereafter.
After counting nearly 99 percent of the votes, according to state news agency Anadolu, Erdoğan was unattainable with 52.1 percent ahead of his opponent Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu who won 47.9 percent. Erdoğan therefore fell short of his result in the last election in 2018, when he won 52.6 percent in Turkey’s first runoff for the presidency. According to data from the private Anka news agency, Erdoğan had 52 percent on Sunday, while Kilıçdaroğlu collected 48 percent. But even after Anka’s count, Kılıçdaroğlu had no chance to win. Voter turnout was 85.6%, down from 88.8% on May 14.
Republic of Erdogan
For more than two decades, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has determined Turkey’s fortunes. He is loved and hated, the country has fundamentally changed under his aegis. And his base does not depart from him. A dossier by Duygu Özkan