May 29, 2023 marked the 570th anniversary of the capture of Istanbul (then Constantinople) by the Ottoman sultan, Mehmed II, in 1453. This day also signalled the electoral victory of Turkey’s modern-day sultan, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has begun a fresh term as President of the Turkish Republic.
The elections for the presidency and the 600-member Parliament on May 14 had upset most forecasts which had suggested that the incumbent President would finally bow out of office and his challenger, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, would replace him. However, with an 88% turnout in an electorate of 64 million, Mr. Erdoğan had then obtained 49.5% (27.1 million) of the vote, while his rival got 44.8% (24.6 million). Mr. Erdoğan’s alliance, the People’s Alliance, also won 323 seats in Parliament as against Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu’s Nation Alliance that got 213 seats.
After the May 14 elections, Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu saw the swing to the nationalist right and adopted hard line rhetoric, promising to send back “ten million” Syrian refugees within a year. This did not attract any new support. Most commentators now conceded that Mr. Erdoğan would win in the runoff on May 28.
