What if Kemal Kilicdaroglu wins Turkey’s election?
During Turkey’s 2018 presidential election campaign, the New York Times ran an editorial expressing support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s opponent at the time, Muharrem Ince. After a few paragraphs, it was clear that the Times editorial board knew that it disliked Erdogan more than it knew about Ince and his views.
And so it goes with Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and a six-party coalition’s pick to challenge Erdogan for the presidency on 14 May. With just a month to go before the election, Kilicdaroglu is up by between 7 and 10 points.
Yet even with Kilicdaroglu’s commanding lead, it seems hard to believe that Erdogan will lose. This is perhaps a lack of imagination, but he has been in power – first as prime minister and then as president – since 2003. Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have hollowed out, bent, and fashioned political institutions to ensure their grip on power.
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