As Turkey’s elections go into a runoff on Sunday, May 28, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hoping voters in the seismic southern region will support his moderate Islamic message and give him an electoral edge.
The second round of the presidential elections in Turkey
Voting abroad for the second round of the presidential election ended with a record turnout.
Nearly 1.86 million Turks voted, and their decisions could be crucial in tipping the balance in favor of the outgoing president, moderate Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan, or his social democratic rival, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu.
Erdogan was close to an absolute majority in the first vote, despite the economic crisis and anger among residents in the southern region, where a massive earthquake struck in February, killing at least 50,000 people.
The city of Antakya was badly affected by the earthquake, but it was the reaction of the Erdogan administration that angered people the most.
“I would vote for anyone to get rid of him (Erdogan). It could be Kiliçdaroglu or someone else, I don’t care. This man (Erdogan) buried us alive, he did not help us, until today we have not received any help!”
However, on May 14, millions of people in the devastated region defied expectations and voted for the man who has ruled Turkey for two decades and could do so again on Sunday, May 28.
Erdogan’s ability to maintain support throughout Turkey’s blighted southeast contributed to Kiliçdaroglu’s disappointing results in the first round, which he finished behind him by nearly five points.
Erdogan, the great favorite
Berk Esen, an associate professor at Sabanci University in Istanbul, said that Erdogan’s return in the elections is “not very surprising”, writes euronews.com.
Esen argued that the region was filled with pious voters who believed Erdogan’s explanation that the massive death toll was the result of an inevitable act of nature and not the state’s negligence of lax construction standards.
In addition, he explained, “the opposition did not campaign intensively in the area and could not offer an alternative, credible message.”
In response, Kiliçdaroglu adopted a stridently nationalist tone, vowing to deport millions of Syrians and other migrants.
The message resonates in Syrian border towns like Antakya, where many Syrians have fled as war ravages their country.
“We will not turn Turkey into a warehouse for migrants,” the 74-year-old candidate said during a visit to Antakya on Tuesday.
