Mockery and sharp divisions among the people… Will Turkey’s crises worsen after Erdogan’s election victory?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s supporters celebrated far away after he won a re-run of the presidential election and secured another five years in power, telling cheering crowds outside his huge palace on the outskirts of Ankara: “The whole nation is celebrating and winning.”

According to the BBC, his call for unity appeared hollow and divisive as he mocked his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu – targeting a jailed Kurdish leader, while Kilicdaroglu called the election “the most unfair election in recent years”, saying the president’s political party had mobilized all state means against him.

Erdogan’s Win

According to the BBC, President Erdogan won more than 52% of the vote, based on near-complete unofficial results, meaning that nearly half of the voters in this highly polarized country did not support his vision for Turkey. In the end, Kilicdaroglu was not suitable to face Erdogan’s well-thought out campaign, even if he pushed the president into a run-off for the first time since the post was directly elected in 2014, but he barely narrowly reduced his rival’s lead in the first round, where he was left behind by more than two million votes.

She went on to say that Erdogan had benefited the most from his victory by giving an initial speech before his supporters on a bus in Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey, followed after dark by a speech from his palace balcony to a crowd of 320,000 people. The speech was read: “We are not alone who won.

He mocked his rival’s defeat with the words “farewell, farewell, Kemal” – a hymn also echoed by his supporters in Ankara.

Exacerbating disagreements and violence

According to the BBC, the run-up to the vote revealed the extent of divisions among Turks, which has evolved into a frightening phase of violence. An official of the opposition Good Party was fatally stabbed to death in front of the party’s office in the northern coastal town of Ordo. Erhan Kurt’s motive was not clear, but a senior opposition official blamed young people who were celebrating the election result.

It went on to say that following the victory, the Turkish President admitted that tackling inflation is the most urgent issue in Turkey. The question is whether he is ready to take the necessary measures to do so, and to face the worst inflation wave in Turkey, where food, rents and other daily goods prices have risen. The crisis was exacerbated by Erdogan’s refusal to adhere to the traditional economic policy and raise interest rates. The Turkish lira has reached its lowest record level against the dollar, and the central bank is struggling to meet the growing demand for foreign currencies.

“If they continue with low interest rates, as Erdogan has pointed out, the only other option is stricter capital restrictions,” warns Silva Demiralp, an economics professor at Istanbul’s Koç University.

For all the celebrations, the idea of unity in this polarized country seems farther away than ever, BBC reported. Outside a polling station in Ankara on Sunday, a voter said he wanted to see an end to the brain hemorrhage that started with clearance after the coup.