Millions will head to the polls next week to vote in Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections, which observers expect will provide the toughest test of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 20-year period as the country’s leader.
The country’s struggling economy has dealt a blow to Erdogan, while his rivals, capitalising on the panic, have promised to improve conditions. But Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) still have strong support among large swaths of nationalists, and religious conservatives, particularly in Turkey’s Anatolian heartland, who see an opposition victory as a return to an era where they felt downtrodden.
