In a historic night on Sunday, Turkish voters reminded President Erdogan and his ruling AKP government that they still exist and they are pissed.
Erdogan and AKP suffered a stupendous defeat in the local elections, losing the 3 metropols of Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara to opposition CHP and continuing the tradition of losing overall voters for the 4th election in a row.
In a country where uncertainty and fear reign supreme, the full might of the Turkish state and a media which is heavily influenced and controlled by Erdogan were thrown at the Turkish voter to win the election.
But after sending 17 different state ministers to campaign for AKP mayoral candidates, including the interior minister Ali Yerlikaya who is responsible for ensuring election fairness and security, and running day and night TV campaigns on state-owned TRT, which is supposed to be an impartial and fair entity, Erdogan could not secure his most prized precious, Istanbul.
Turks, dealing with nearly triple digit inflation, an economy on life support, excessive number of migrants who they believe are faring better off than tax paying citizens gave Erdogan and AKP a red card.
There is also the dissatisfied Islamist voters upset about Turkish commerce with Israel, they claim while Erdogan yells Israel is a murderer Turkish ships carrying cargo leave for Israeli ports everyday.
It seems Erdogan and his weird economic decisions and illogical migration policies were finally held to account by all segments of the population who are sick and tired of being told on TV and media how jealous Europe and US is of Turkey while they watch the Turkish lira continue to crumble at an historic pace and prices go up daily on all basic needs.
And it shows.
In Istanbul, Europe’s largest city and the country’s economic engine, Imamoglu had about 52% support compared with 40% for AKP challenger Murat Kurum, a former minister in Erdogan’s government.
Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said he had seen off the challenge from Erdogan’s candidate by more than one million votes. “We have won the election,” he said.
In Ankara, the CHP mayor Mansur Yavas claimed victory in front of large crowds of supporters, declaring “the elections are over, we will continue to serve Ankara”.
“Those who have been ignored have sent a clear message to those who rule this country,” Yavas said.
CHP also won in Izmir, Turkey’s third largest city, and Antalya where party supporters flooded onto the streets. Even some AKP stronghold towns were at risk of being lost.
Results from across the nation of 85 million people showed major advances for the CHP at the expense of Erdogan’s AKP.
Making this the worst defeat for AKP in its more than two decades in power.
Imamoglu, always outnumbered never outgunned
Imamoglu secured support from even AKP supporters whereas AKP candidate Murat Kurum made ridiculous statements like linking Istanbul local election results to independence of Palestine and Gaza.
He was able to bring together a society that has become extremely polorized, and beat a machine strictly designed to keep society polorized to stay in power.
A machine that worked around the clock to label journalists, normal citizens, patriots, even own allies as terrorists and traitors.
That billion dollar machine was dismantled and sent back to factory by Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on March 31 and his ambitions have now become an idea.
An idea, that the impossible is very possible and inevitable. An idea that citizens are not to be ruled over but served. And with those idea’s comes the realisation that 1 person holding all the power in a secular democracy is not a good idea at all.
Imamoglu ran against impossible odds and comfortably beat them, he is not the top candidate for opposition, he is the only candidate and that is crystal clear after tonight.
