2023-05-25 21:35:58
Deniz feels alien in his own country. Turkey is becoming “more and more Arab,” she says. If President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is re-elected next Sunday, she would like to emigrate. “We’ll decide after the runoff,” she says. “If things get bad, we can sell everything we own and buy a house in Croatia, Cyprus or Portugal.”
Just two weeks ago, opposition supporters felt hopeful. Then came the election night of May 14th. Since then there has been disillusionment. Contrary to what pollsters had predicted, the incumbent was well ahead of his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the first ballot. He could still have sold his result as a win. No challenger has ever managed to force Erdogan into a runoff. Instead, Kilicdaroglu went into hiding for four days.
That’s another reason why he’s having trouble spreading confidence. The old debates are long gone. The emigration plans. Fears of Islamization in Türkiye. Activists’ concerns about being dragged into court. The doubts as to whether it is even possible to oust the authoritarian ruler Erdogan from power through elections. And the anger at those fellow citizens who voted for him again despite the economic crisis.
Turkish society is deeply divided
For a while, Kilicdaroglu’s campaign rhetoric, including campaign rhetoric, covered up the deep rift that divides Turkish society. For Deniz, who actually has a different name, he is now all the more visible. On the one hand she sees Erdogan’s supporters. On the other hand, she sees herself: Alevi, studied Turkology, working mother of two small children, who wants her sons to be able to decide later whether they want to be atheists or Muslims.
Turkish visa agencies expect a new onslaught if Erdogan is re-elected. Deniz and her husband have applied for a green card in the United States. Your application has been rejected. Now Deniz is learning Korean. Her grandfather fought with UN troops in the Korean War in the 1950s. That’s why she thinks she has a chance of getting a scholarship from South Korea. Her husband, a trained German teacher, has been trying in vain for a job as a civil servant for six years. He is convinced that members of Erdogan’s AK party would be given preference. “The examiners have lists of names,” he says. If it were up to him, the family would still stay. “We have to resist a little longer. After all, this is our country.”
There is much to suggest that Erdogan would continue his authoritarian course in another term. A ban on the pro-Kurdish HDP, the third largest opposition party, would be conceivable. The process is nearing completion. A final judgment is also pending in the trial of vice-presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu. He faces imprisonment and a political ban for insulting officials. Erdogan could exclude the popular mayor of Istanbul from re-election before the local elections next year.
Women’s rights are further restricted
The women’s rights activist Ipek Bozkurt expects that the repression against civil society will continue to increase. “That’s what he’s done for the past two terms. His supporters seem happy with that.” The clearer the election victory, the more Erdogan will feel empowered. This could have immediate consequences for the organization that supports Bozkurt as a lawyer. Proceedings to ban the “We Will Stop Femicide Platform” initiative are underway. The group supports women in court who have been fatally injured by their husbands and parents of women who have been killed.
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