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kemal kilicdaroglu
Turkey's Marginalized 'Deeply Afraid' as Erdoğan Wins Presidential Runoff
"Erdoğan's victory will consolidate one-man rule and pave the way for horrible practices, bringing completely dark days for all parts of society," warned one Kurdish opposition leader.
May 29, 2023
As supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at home and abroad celebrated his win of Sunday's runoff election, human rights defenders and marginalized people including Kurds and LGBTQ+ activists voiced deep fears about how their lives will be adversely affected during the increasingly authoritarian leader's third term.
Turkey's Supreme Election Council confirmed Erdoğan's victory over Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Sunday evening. Erdoğan, the 69-year-old leader of the right-wing Justice and Development Party who has ruled the nation of 85 million people since 2014 and dominated its politics for two decades, won 52.18% of the vote. Kılıçdaroğlu, a 74-year-old social democrat who leads the left-of-center Republican People's Party, received 47.82%.
Erdoğan—who was seen handing out cash to supporters at a polling station in an apparent violation of Turkish election law—mocked his opponent's loss outside the president's home in Istanbul, saying, "Bye, bye, bye, Kemal" as the winner's supporters booed, according to Al Jazeera.
\u201cInstead of congratulating Erdogan, EU leaders should ask about the backsliding democratic and human rights. \n\nTurkey is already 103rd of 167 countries on democracy index, and we know Erdogan wants to take it further down...\u201d— Guy Verhofstadt (@Guy Verhofstadt) 1685354462
"The only winner today is Turkey," Erdoğan declared as he prepared for a third term in which his country faces severe economic woes—inflation has soared and the lira is at a record low against the U.S. dollar—and is struggling to recover from multiple devastating earthquakes earlier this year.
However, in Turkish Kurdistan—whose voters, along with a majority of people in most of Turkey's largest cities favored Kılıçdaroğlu—people expressed fears that the government will intensify a crackdown it has been waging for several years.
Ardelan Mese, a 26-year-old cafe owner in Diyarbakir, the country's largest Kurdish-majority city, called Sunday's election "a matter of life and death now."
"I can't imagine what he will be capable of after declaring victory," Mese said of Erdoğan in an interview with Reuters.
After initially courting the Kurds by expanding their political and cultural rights, Erdoğan returned to the repression that has long characterized Turkey's treatment of a people who make up one-fifth of the nation's population, while intensifying a war against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a far-left separatist group that Turkey, the United States, and other nations consider a terrorist organization.
\u201cKurds fear that an Erdogan victory "could reinforce a crackdown the state has been waging against them for years, alarmed by a surge in nationalist rhetoric ahead of Sunday's vote." https://t.co/aAhHVqjmf4\u201d— Kenneth Roth (@Kenneth Roth) 1685018787
"Erdogan's victory will consolidate one-man rule and pave the way for horrible practices, bringing completely dark days for all parts of society," Tayip Temel, the deputy co-chair of Turkey's second-largest opposition party, the center-left and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)—which backed Kılıçdaroğlu—told Reuters.
Human rights defenders—many of whom have chosen or been forced into exile—also sounded the alarm over the prospect of a third Erdoğan term.
"If the opposition wins there will be space, even possibly limited, for discussions for a common future. With Erdoğan, there is no civic or political space for democracy and human rights," Murat Çelikkan, a journalist who founded human rights groups including Amnesty International Turkey, said in an interview with Civil Rights Defenders just before Sunday's runoff.
Çelikkan called Erdoğan a "very authoritarian, religious, pro-expansionist conservative."
"Turkey, according to judicial statistics, has the largest number of terrorists in the world, because the prosecutors and judges have an inclination to use anti-terror laws arbitrarily and lavishly," he continued. "There are tens of thousands of people who are being trialed or convicted by anti-terror laws. Thousands of people insulting the president."
\u201cToday #Turkey is holding a presidential election runoff. But what is at stake?\n\nRead the interview with Murat \u00c7elikkan, human rights defender from Turkey, about possible impact of the election outcome on #HumanRights:\n\nhttps://t.co/7a8HTEELUp\u201d— Civil Rights Defenders (@Civil Rights Defenders) 1685253600
"Nowhere in Turkey you can make a peaceful demonstration and protest," Çelikkan added. "The security forces directly attack and detain you. The minister of interior targets and criminalizes LGBTI+ people on a daily basis."
LGBTQ+ Turks voiced fears for their future following a campaign in which Erdoğan centered homophobia in his appeals to an overwhelmingly Muslim electorate and repeatedly accused Kılıçdaroğlu and other opposition figures of being gay. During his victory speech Sunday evening, Erdoğan again lashed out at the LGBTQ+ community while excoriating Kılıçdaroğlu for his campaign pledge to "respect everyone's beliefs, lifestyles, and identities."
Erdoğan vowed in his speech that gays would not "infiltrate" Turkey and that "we will not let the LGBT forces win." At one point during his address, an Al Jazeera interpreter stopped translating a 45-second portion when the president called members of the opposition gay.
\u201cDuring his victory speech President Erdo\u011fan repeated: \u201cWe will not let the LGBT forces win!\u201d. \n\nHe then emphasised \u201cLGBT cannot infiltrate among us. We will be reborn. The family is sacred for us. The violence against women is forbidden and haram for us, no one can resort to this\u2026\u201d— \u2022 (@\u2022) 1685309623
Ilker Erdoğan, a 20-year-old university student and LGBTQ+ activist, told Agence France-Presse that "I feel deeply afraid."
"Feeling so afraid is affecting my psychology terribly. I couldn't breathe before, and now they will try to strangle my throat," he added. "From the moment I was born, I felt that discrimination, homophobia, and hatred in my bones."
Ameda Murat Karaguzu, a project assistant at an unnamed pro-LGBTQ+ group, told AFP that she has been "subjected to more hate speech and acts of hate than I have experienced in a long time."
Karaguzu blamed Erdoğan's government for the increasing hostility toward LGBTQ+ Turks, adding that bigots are keenly "aware that there will be no consequences for killing or harming us."
Ilker Erdoğan struck a defiant tone, telling AFP that "I am also part of this nation, my identity card says Turkish citizen."
"You cannot erase my existence," he added, "no matter how hard you try."
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Erdogan's Hold on Power in Question as Votes Counted in Turkey
Neither the incumbent nor his main rival has secured the majority of votes needed to avoid a runoff election in two weeks.
May 14, 2023
Whether Turkey's authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, maintains power remains an open question as officials continue to count votes following Sunday's presidential and parliamentary elections.
Tens of millions of people cast ballots in the pivotal election before polls closed at 5:00 pm local time. Preliminary results indicate that Erdoğan of the right-wing Justice and Development Party (AKP) holds a dwindling lead over Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who heads the center-left Republican People's Party (CHP) and is the joint candidate of a six-party opposition coalition.
The state-run Anadolu news agency reports that Erdoğan is beating Kılıçdaroğlu by a margin of 49.56% to 44.71% with nearly 95% of votes counted. The private Anka news agency, meanwhile, reports that Erdoğan is ahead of Kılıçdaroğlu, 49.24% to 45.04%, with just over 98% of votes counted. Two other candidates have garnered support from a small percentage of voters.
As expected, the incumbent jumped out to an early lead as votes in his conservative central heartland were among the first counted, but his main challenger has gained ground as the tally proceeds in big cities and coastal areas. It may take up to three days for official results to be confirmed. If no candidate wins over 50% of first-round ballots, the top two vote-getters will compete again in a head-to-head runoff scheduled for May 28. Both Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu's camps have acknowledged that this is an increasingly likely outcome.
Muharrem İnce, a former CHP member who dropped out of the contest just days ago, has received roughly 0.4% of the vote. Far-right nationalist candidate Sinan Oğan has secured about 5.3%, making him a potential kingmaker in the event the race goes to a second round.
Reporting of the results has proven controversial. Earlier on Sunday evening, when it was reported that Erdoğan had a substantial lead, opposition figures accused state-run media of deceiving the public and claimed that Kılıçdaroğlu is winning.
"Anadolu Agency is doing its traditional manipulation for the last time," said CHP spokesperson Faik Oztrak. "We ask our citizens to follow our statements."
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a CHP member who took office in 2019, also slammed the outlet. Citing similar actions in past elections, he said: "We are experiencing another Anadolu Agency case. The agency's reputation is below zero. They should not be trusted. Anadolu's data is null and void."
Imamoglu was echoed by Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas, another CHP member elected in 2019, who said: "They mislead our nation by running the ballot boxes that work for them. They do not feel ashamed either. They have no credibility... According to the data we have, our President Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is ahead."
Omer Celik, a spokesperson for the ruling AKP rebuked the opposition for criticizing Anadolu.
According to Progressive International: "AKP has challenged many votes in precincts where they are trailing all over the country. If these challenges are unfounded, it will delay the counting process several hours. This means we could see a late surge for opposition parties."
The group, which sent an election observation delegation to Turkey, sounded the alarm about possible dirty tricks being carried out on behalf of Erdoğan.
\u201cURGENT \ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\uddf7: The @ProgIntl electoral observers urge patience until every vote is counted. We are alarmed that the Supreme Election Council\u2019s website is down, reporting has slowed in regions with opposition support, and allegations of final result manipulation continue to grow.\u201d— Progressive International (@Progressive International) 1684091486
\u201c\ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\uddf7 In the Kurdish city Diyarbak\u0131r, where the opposition is predicted to receive a high percentage of votes, officials from the Higher Election Council are slowing down the process, and poll workers are waiting for the results to be certified.\n\nhttps://t.co/BZmQZcOTTW\u201d— Progressive International (@Progressive International) 1684093938
According to Al Jazeera correspondent Abdelazeem Mohammed, the election is "most likely heading to a second round."
"The opposition is saying that the ruling alliance... deliberately started the vote count in its strongholds," said Mohammed.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from CHP headquarters in Ankara, said the party is feeling "more and more confident" as the additional ballots are tallied and Erdoğan's initial lead shrinks.
"CHP, along with the opposition coalition, is looking forward to increasing numbers in major cities, and that the numbers in Istanbul and Ankara could be [a] strong indication that they are going to go to a runoff," said Ahelbarra.
"In 2022, they put together this coalition from all walks of life with different affiliations," Ahelbarra explained. "The reason why they did this was to consolidate gains because they know that the AKP, with the leadership of Erdoğan for the past 20 years, makes it extremely difficult for them to win the elections."
Speaking from Istanbul, political analyst Cengiz Tomar told Al Jazeera that "the results so far spell out a great failure for the opposition."
"The results so far do not align at all with the sociological make-up of the Turkish people, where 35% of them are religious, conservative, and on the right, and the remaining 65% are secular and Kurdish," he said.
Ahead of the election, polling data gave Kılıçdaroğlu a slight lead and also suggested that Erdoğan’s governing coalition, led by the AKP, could lose its majority in parliament.
In the run-up to Sunday, however, human rights groups warned that Erdoğan’s right-wing government would "exert considerable control over the digital ecosystem in an effort to undermine the outcome," and there is fresh reporting of "foul play" on the day of the election.
Erdoğan has ruled Turkey for the past two decades, first as prime minister from 2003 to 2014 and as president since 2014. Before he was reelected in 2018, Erdoğan convinced enough Turkish voters to approve constitutional changes that transformed the nation's parliamentary system into a highly centralized presidential regime with few checks and balances.
Erdoğan "fell behind in the polls as voters react to the results of 20 years of his rule, including a brutal economic crisis that caused the lira to devalue by half last year alone and soaring inflation," The Guardianreported Sunday. "Criticism of his government increased after a slow and patchy state response to deadly twin earthquakes in the country's southeast that killed more than 50,000 people and destroyed homes and infrastructure across 11 provinces."
Progressives have argued that a Kılıçdaroğlu victory is necessary to revive Turkey's economy, restore its democracy, and protect women's rights, among other goals.
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Groups Blast Right-Wing Government Control of Internet Ahead of Turkey Elections
"The vote will test whether voters in Turkey can rely on social media for independent news and to express their views on the election and its outcome, despite government efforts to put companies under its heel."
May 11, 2023
As Turks prepare to vote in Sunday's presidential and parliamentary elections, a pair of human rights groups warned Wednesday that the right-wing government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan "will exert considerable control over the digital ecosystem in an effort to undermine the outcome."
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Article 19, an international group promoting freedom of expression, published a question-and-answer report examining "potential threats to Turkey's online environment in the parliamentary and presidential elections in which President Erdoğan—who has been in power for over 20 years—and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) face a significant electoral challenge."
\u201cSocial media and the internet are key sources of news and free debate in Turkey\u2019s May 14 elections.\n\nBut the Turkish government\u2019s practice of silencing online dissent could undermine the integrity of the election. https://t.co/oXY3LIqTZH\u201d— Human Rights Watch (@Human Rights Watch) 1683788432
As the BBC reports:
Six opposition parties have combined forces for presidential and parliamentary elections on 14 May, picking opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as their unity candidate.
Turkey has become increasingly authoritarian under President Erdoğan and the opposition is seeking to reverse that.
He appears vulnerable, with Turkey facing soaring inflation and reeling from twin earthquakes that have left more than 50,000 people dead.
Any candidate that can secure more than half the presidential vote on 14 May is the outright winner. Failing that, the race goes to a run-off two weeks later.
The new report details how the Turkish government—which has a history of quashing online dissent—"has amassed a vast arsenal of digital censorship tools," while listing steps social media and messaging platforms should take to safeguard human rights during the elections.
\u201cVoters in Turkey will soon head to the polls in a high-stakes election.\n\nAhead of this election, the Turkish government has accelerated its efforts to enforce censorship and tighten control over social media and independent online news sites.\nhttps://t.co/3RZfKjQoQB\u201d— Human Rights Watch (@Human Rights Watch) 1683737718
"The Turkish government has accelerated its efforts to enforce censorship and tighten control over social media and independent online news sites ahead of this election," HRW senior technology researcher Deborah Brown said in a statement. "The vote will test whether voters in Turkey can rely on social media for independent news and to express their views on the election and its outcome, despite government efforts to put companies under its heel."
According to the groups' report:
The Turkish government has equipped itself with multiple powers that it can use as a pretext to throttle any social media platform and render it unusable. Such steps could be taken during elections with the ulterior motive of limiting the right to information and independent news online. If election results are contested during election day or in its aftermath, the government may use its full array of censorship powers—and particularly its "spreading false information offense"—to prevent independent groups from challenging results that favor the ruling party. Social media companies may face intense pressure to remove content the government views unfavorably including assessments from independent monitors.
Turkish authorities have used the "fake news" law to target critical journalists; now critics say it is being applied to crack down on social media users.
"Turkey has long been hell for journalists," Sevgi Akarçeşme, formerly the editor-in-chief of Today's Zaman—the country's largest English-language daily—toldCNBC last October. "With this new law… the goal is to control social media because conventional media is already under Erdoğan's control."
\u201c\ud83e\uddf5\ud83d\udd38Can #Turkey\u2019s elections be truly fair with internet censorship?\n\ud83d\udd38How may the govt\u2019s control over the Internet impact the fairness of vote? \n\ud83d\udd38What should big tech do? \n\n\ud83d\udc49Find answers in the Q&A by @article19org and @hrw \n\nhttps://t.co/d5aqwfuqrs 1/2\u201d— ARTICLE 19 ECA (@ARTICLE 19 ECA) 1683721230
Sarah Clarke, director of Article 19 Europe, said in a statement that "social media companies may face intense pressure to remove content the government views unfavorably, including assessments from independent monitors."
"It is crucial," she added, "for companies to resist these pressures and do everything in their power to push back against measures that would make them complicit in rights abuses during this critical election period."
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