by Edward Steen, Vienna, May 18, 2023
Apart from the losers, no-one claimed to be optimistic about the chances of opposition alliance leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu making a comeback as victor in the run-off of the Turkish elections on May 28. Tayyip Erdogan for the first time not quite made it to the 50% he needed to win outright, but had little trouble – including thanks to the heavily-censored and oppressed Turkish media – in taking it all on the chin.
The kingmaker proved to be the leaders of a far-right nationalist party which attained over 5%. So Erdogan and his oppressive regime are with us for another five-year round.
“There’s no success like failure,” sang Bob Dylan in his heyday. “And failure’s no success at all”. So alas, it has been, and as the hapless if harmless opposition candidate no doubt knew. For how long? The AEJ will not give up its struggle for press freedom and to secure the liberty of our colleagues in a country of huge possibilities for itself and for spreading liberal Western values.
- AEJ special correspondent on what was at stake
- Media groups urge Turkish parliament to block new law