Recal~, Erdogan started a widespread crackdown on state officials with claimed ties to Fethullah Gulen and blamed the failed coup on the followers of the cleric. He also imprisoned activists, journalists, and pro-Kurdish politicians.
The elections were competitive but had certain restrictions, according to Michael Georg Link, Special Co-ordinator and head of the OSCE observation mission monitoring the election. “As the criminalization of some political forces, including the detention of several opposition politicians, prevented full political pluralism and impeded individuals’ rights to run in elections,” he said. The observer mission said that Erdogan had a “unjustified advantage” due to the use of public resources, media bias, the criminalization of spreading false information, and online censorship, while stating that the elections demonstrated the tenacity of Turkish democracy.
1st round face-off: The results of the first round of Turkey’s presidential election, in which neither incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor his primary rival, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, received the majority support necessary for an outright victory, . A runoff election between the top two candidates will take held on May 28 as a result of Erdogan collecting 49.24% of the vote, Kilicdaroglu receiving 45.07%, and nationalist politician Sinan Ogan receiving 5.28%.
After withdrawing from the contest, Ogan, a former academic who was supported by a party opposed to immigration, could hold the key to winning the runoff. Ogan outlined the requirements to obtain his support in a statement to Turkish media earlier this week. Taking a firm position against the PKK and setting a deadline for the return of millions of refugees, including around 3.7 million Syrians, are two among them. Turkey, the US, and the EU all view the PKK, which has fought a long-running insurgency in southeast Turkey, as a terrorist group.
Kilicdaroglu changed his language on Thursday in an effort to pander to nationalist supporters; he promised to repatriate millions of refugees and rejected the idea of engaging in peace talks with Kurdish insurgents. Erdogan claimed in a Friday interview with CNN International that he would not give in to Ogan’s demands: “I’m not a person who loves to bargain in such a way. The people themselves will elect the king. However, Erdogan and Ogan unexpectedly met on Friday at the former’s office in Istanbul. After the meeting, which lasted over an hour, nothing was spoken.\
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