TURKEY: A broadcaster who formerly backed Tayyip Erdogan, turned sides after the AK Party refused to express regret for the earthquake that destroyed his TV station in southeast Turkey. The lack of support was the last straw in his disillusionment with the party.
Cost-of-living issues are affecting Erdogan’s support in the southeast Turkey and elsewhere ahead of Sunday’s elections. As per political analyst, Erdogan’s nationalist stance has also hurt his standing with Kurds, who comprise 20% of the population and are a key voting bloc. A TV station owner in Diyarbakir, believes a change is needed to save the future and hope for the young.
As per polls by Rawest, Kemal Kilicdaroglu received 76.3% of the vote in Diyarbakir, while Erdogan received 20.5%. His CHP had little support in the southeast, but under his leadership, it reached out to Kurds and the HDP, which received 67% of the vote.
Erdogan has a core of supporters, including Adil Aydin, who links the CHP to state brutality of Kurds before his AKP came to power. Aydin praised Ankara’s efforts to end a protracted battle that has scarred the region, noting that it brought peace.
In 1984, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) began using force against the government, killing 40,000 people. Erdogan has made unsupported claims that the PKK and the opposition coalition are connected, but a peace process with the PKK was started ten years ago.
In 2015, fierce urban combat broke out in the southeast, including in the areas around Aydin’s store. Aydin hopes for a resolution to the battle, which is currently concentrated in northern Iraq.
The Kurds want to restart peace negotiations, and Aydin believes Erdogan can do it if anyone can. The broadcaster was touched when he saw Erdogan speak two decades ago and envisioned the AKP as bringing “salvation”. Now, he declares he will support Kilicdaroglu, who is leading in the presidential contest.
Kilicdaroglu has been endorsed by the HDP, which is running in the elections under the banner of the Green Left Party. Selahattin Demirtas, the jailed former leader of the HDP, has managed an election campaign from his cell, and Mehmet Emin Aktar, an HDP candidate for parliament, claimed that the president had evolved in the HDP’s Diyarbakir offices.
Aktar attributed the change in Erdogan’s language and manners to the breakdown of the peace process in 2015. This led to the detention of thousands of party leaders and members, as well as the removal of elected mayors and parliamentarians.
“This government pressure violated and suppressed all rights, such as freedom of expression and the right to organise and demonstrate,” Aktar added.
First-time voters in Diyarbakir, Turkey, are likely to vote for the CHP due to their promises regarding health, education, and the economy.
Also Read: Kilicdaroglu: Opponent of Erdogan Promises Peace and Democracy in Turkey
