Erdogan’s victory in the Turkish elections leaves the nation divided

Supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrated wildly on the night after the longtime Turkish president secured another five years in power.

“The whole nation worth 85 million won,” he told cheering crowds outside his huge mansion on the outskirts of Ankara.

But his call for unity rings hollow as he mocks his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu – and takes aim at an imprisoned Kurdish leader and pro-LGBTQ policies.

The opposition leader did not explicitly concede victory.

Kilicdaroglu complained about “the most unfair elections in recent years” and said the president’s political party had mobilized all means of the state against him.

President Erdoğan ended up with just over 52% of the vote based on almost perfect unofficial results. Nearly half of the electorate in this deeply polarized country did not support his authoritarian vision for Turkey.

Ultimately, Kilicdaroglu was no match for Erdoğan’s well-thought-out campaign, even if it did lead the president to a second runoff for the first time since the position was directly elected in 2014.

But he barely diminished his opponent’s lead in the first round, trailing by more than two million votes.

The president made the most of his victory, giving an initial speech to supporters on a bus in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, followed by a speech after dark from the balcony of his palace to an adoring crowd of 320,000.

“We are not the only ones who won, Turkey won,” he declared, describing it as one of the most important elections in Turkey’s history.

He taunted his opponent’s defeat with the words “Bye, bye, bye, Kemal”—a chant that was also chanted by his supporters in Ankara.

Erdogan poured scorn on the main opposition party by increasing the number of its deputies in a parliamentary vote two weeks ago. He said the real number dropped to 129 because the party handed over dozens of seats to its allies.

He also condemned the opposition coalition’s pro-gay policies – which he said contradicted his own focus on families.

Although the final results were not confirmed, the Supreme Council for Elections said there was no doubt about who won.

It is unusual for a palace complex to be opened to the public – but such was the result, extending his reign to a quarter of a century.

Supporters from all over Ankara came to get a taste of victory. There were Islamic chants and some put Turkish flags on the grass to pray.

Turkey’s economic crisis was forgotten for one night, and one supporter, Seyhan, said it was a lie: “No one is hungry. We are very happy with his economic policies. He will do better in the next five years.”

But the president admitted that tackling inflation is the most pressing issue in Türkiye.

The question is whether he is prepared to take the necessary action to do so. At an annual rate of nearly 44%, inflation is seeping into everyone’s lives.

Prices of food, rents and other daily commodities have skyrocketed, exacerbated by Erdogan’s refusal to stick to traditional economic policy and raise interest rates.

The Turkish lira hit record lows against the dollar and the central bank is struggling to meet growing demand for foreign currencies.

“If they continue with low interest rates, as Erdogan has indicated, the only other option is tighter capital controls,” warns Silva Demiralp, professor of economics at Koc University in Istanbul.

The economy was far from the minds of Erdogan’s supporters, who spoke of their pride in his powerful position in the world, and of his tough stance in the fight against “terrorists”, by which they mean Kurdish militants.

President Erdogan accused his counterpart of siding with terrorists, and criticized him for promising to release a former co-leader of Turkey’s second largest opposition party, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

Selahattin Demirtas has been in prison since 2016, despite the European Court of Human Rights ordering his release.

Erdogan said that while he was in power, Demirtas would remain behind bars.

He also promised to prioritize rebuilding in areas hit by the twin earthquakes in February and to achieve the “voluntary” return of one million Syrian refugees.

Crowds flocked to Taksim Square in Istanbul, many of them coming from the Middle East and the Gulf.

Palestinians from Jordan wrapped Turkish flags around their shoulders and Tunisian visitor Alaa Nassar said that Erdogan not only made improvements to his country, but “he also supports the Arabs and the Islamic world.”

For all the celebrations, the idea of ​​unity in this polarized country seems more distant than ever.

Since the failed coup in 2016, Erdogan has abolished the post of prime minister and amassed sweeping powers, which his opponent has vowed to undo.

A voter outside a polling station in Ankara on Sunday said he wanted to see an end to the brain drain that began to clear up after the coup. There is a risk that it may worsen now.

The Turkish opposition will now have to regroup ahead of local elections in 2024.

Mr Kilicdaroglu’s party has two famous mayors running Ankara and Istanbul – one of whom may have had a better chance of winning the presidential race.

Additional coverage from Istanbul by Cagel Kasapoglu.