AKP Leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the left; CHP Leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on the right

The Turkish newspaper, Cumhuriyet, known for its independent reporting and anti-Islamist stance, on 14 May 2023, as Presidential and Parliamentary elections voting was coming to a close, claimed that Türkiye’s incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had lost the election to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, based on indications from various regions throughout the country [Please see below the map of Türkiye for a translation (LOC) of the Turkish article.] Pollsters, on the other hand, claimed that the election was too close to call. As it turned out, the 15 May final tallies awarded Erdoğan 49% to Kılıçdaroğlu’s 45% (rounded off, respectively). However, because neither candidate broke 50%, a runoff election is mandatory.

While voting was underway in Türkiye, Greece’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, was giving an interview on Greek TV, in which he shared his desired outcome in the election, without naming names, as reported on the internet site of the Greek newspaper, Kathemerini.

[Dendias’s interview follows; translated by LOC]

N. Dendias: We want a Türkiye that is democratic and a friend of the West. The position of Greece toward Türkiye after the earthquakes “created a window of opportunity where there exists no tension, no violations, no overflights, no aggressive rhetoric, episodes at sea.”

“We would like a Türkiye that is a friend of the West, democratic, economically strong, without economic crises,” Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias stressed in an interview earlier today on the TV station Alpha. He added, “The Turkish community will decide which of the two will serve [in this capacity].”

However, as he pointed out meaningfully, “Things are more complicated than it seems if you take the slogans of the parties.”

The position of Greece toward Türkiye after the earthquakes “created a window of opportunity where there exists no tension, no violations, no overflights, no aggressive rhetoric, episodes at sea.”

This, he stressed, “gives us the possibility after the elections and to the two countries, the two new governments, can be the same with the renewed confidence of the world, but they will be governments, which have the political capital to sit down to discuss our differences.”

“We believe that in this way a solution will magically be found that *hasn’t been found for decades. The probabilities are not great; however, we must try. And what gives us this climate is the possibility to test it without *the constant tension that we have had up to now,” he noted and added:

“Anyway, one of the basic conditions that Greece has put in place up to now in order to sit down to chat is that there not be violations, not be overflights, not be aggressive rhetoric. It has been done, it is important what has been done, we went through a small window to reach a large door.” [Translator comment: the ‘small window’ is assumed to mean the opportunity taken by Greece to aid Türkiye in the aftermath of the earthquakes there.]

Mentioning the alliances that Greece has built, he pointed out that among them are included the United States, France, a number of countries of the Arab region, and a number of countries that believe in international law.

Referring to the Greek elections, he stressed that for the New Democracy Party the proposal is a package, no alternatives are suggested: self-reliant government of New Democracy with Mr. Mitsotakis as prime minister.

He emphasized that “we are not mortgaging our basic proposal to society.”

*The italics in both cases are mine: the mutual animosity between Greece and Türkiye has been a fact of life for literally decades, and most recently, for the past 20 years during which Erdoğan has governed Türkiye as leader of the Islamist-influenced Justice and Development Party, which is known by the party’s Turkish initials, AKP.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, on the other hand, is the candidate for the Republican People’s Party (known by its Turkish initials CHP), a secular [Translator comment: in this case, as opposed to governing in accord with Islamic societal order] party having a proclivity toward pattering its policies after those of the democracies of the West.

The original article can be found at: https://www.kathimerini.gr/politics/foreign-policy/562420231/n-dendias-theloyme-mia-dytikofili-kai-dimokratiki-toyrkia/

The Reality behind the Events

Erdoğan Lost, Monday 15 May 2023

Last evening, according to various elections data when our newspaper was going to publication, National Alliance Presidential candidate, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, appeared to be in the lead.

 These foundational reasons can be listed in short as such:

1) In Trakya’s three provinces, Kılıçdaroğlu is in the lead.

2) In Western Antalya, in the provinces of Çanakkale, Balıkesir, Muğla ve Denizli, Kılıçdaroğlu is in the lead.

3) In Mersin and Adana also, Kılıçdaroğlu is in the lead.

4) In all the provinces of Eastern and Southeastern Antalya, Kılıçdaroğlu is in the lead.

5) Izmir, Istanbul, Ankara… In these three large cities, Kılıçdaroğlu is in the lead.

6) And if not in the lead in the Black Sea and Central Antalya provinces, Kılıçdaroğlu is getting votes close to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Under these conditions, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is going to finish the election in the lead. Erdoğan has lost the presidential election.

[Translator comment: It could be that by listing the above reasons for having called the election for Kılıçdaroğlu, the author is intimating that the AKP used heavy-handed measures to change the course of the apparent result.]

The original article can be found at: https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/olaylarin-ardindaki-gercek/erdogan-kaybetti-2081492?utm_medium=En%20Cok%20Okunanlar%20Widget&utm_source=Cumhuriyet&utm_campaign=En%20Cok%20Okunanlar%20Widget