2023-05-29 13:09:43
Sunday evening in Ankara the supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not wait to know the official results of the second round of the presidential election to converge on his palace of Bestepe. They are soon hundreds of thousands, massed in front of the gates, to celebrate the re-election of their champion. On the heady rhythms composed in honor of the “reis”, the crowd chants the slogans of the campaign: “The right man, at the right time”, “say what is right, say what is wrong”, “they talk, and we act”.
A Turkish flag, white star and crescent on a red background, was hung on the facade of the building, next to a portrait of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and that of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. The spotlights, which illuminate the imposing building from a low angle, highlight its veins and contours.
Around midnight, Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears on the balcony of the palace for his traditional victory speech. “As every time our nation expresses itself, this result is sacred, proclaims the Head of State, re-elected for a third term. The real winner of this election is our nation, in all its components, it is Turkey as a whole. The big winner is our democracy. »
“Turkey is the freest country in the world”
Faced with the tide of his supporters, the invincible Erdogan, in power for more than two decades, is biting. “Didn’t German, French and British magazines publish covers to make Erdogan bend?he says, speaking of himself in the third person. They published them, didn’t they? But they are also the losers! A reference to the covers of several European newspapers, calling on the Turks, during the campaign, not to re-elect him.
At the start of the evening, the first results considered reliable showed 52% of the votes for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, against 48% of votes in favor of Kemal Kiliçdaroglu. The slightly lower turnout, from 87% in the first round to 85.7%, betrays a certain demobilization of part of the electorate. It was on the basis of these provisional results that Recep Tayyip Erdogan had claimed victory earlier in the evening,
in front of his residence in Istanbul.
“We often hear that Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a dictator. Today was the second round of the presidential election, wasn’t it? If Turkey was a dictatorship, would it be possible to have a second round? », Mehmet laughs, round face and mischievous gaze. “I assure you, Turkey is the freest country in the world,” adds this forties, public service employee.
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