Turkish election may not bring the geopolitical shift some are hoping for

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s foreign policy does not look like a major reinterpretation of Turkey’s position. Photograph: Alp Eren Kaya/Depo Photos/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

Few elections, save the US presidential contest, have been so closely watched for their geopolitical implications in modern times as the Turkish presidential elections, a testimony to the importance of Turkey globally as a hinge country between east and west, as well as one teetering between democracy and populist authoritarianism.

But the distinctions being drawn between the foreign policy of the incumbent president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and challenger, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, are less a substantial reinterpretation of the Turkish national interest, more about the style, tone and predictability in securing that interest.