On Sunday 6th May, upon his first campaign meeting for the snap presidential and parliamentary elections to be held on 24thJune, the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally became a candidate.
The meeting took place at the old capital of Istanbul and not in Ankara, as a symbolic repeal of Ottoman Empire. This choice is essentially coherent with the major purpose of his speech, namely raising Turkey to the rank of “global power”.
To this end, Erdogan envisages starting new military operations against jihadists and a Kurdish militia in northern Syria. This Kurdish militia, considered by Ankara as a terrorism organisation, receives constant support from Washington in the fight against the jihadist group known as the Islamic State.
Another main promise is to reinforce Turkish economy. Infrastructure projects implemented by the AKP since 2002 could be ruined by the overheating of the Turkish economy, given by high levels of inflations. Erdogan promises indeed to decrease the inflation and the interest rates, by ultimately reducing the current account deficit.
Despite repetitive attacks against the West, he reaffirmed Turkey’s commitment to joining the European Union in spite of tensions with several EU Member States and long-stalled membership negotiations.
The opposition rightfully denounced unequal campaign condition particularly about media coverage as the President and his collaborates are omnipresent in medias with speech several times per days.
It is a big issue for the President Erdogan because these elections will introduce most of the measures that will strengthen the powers of the Head of State adopted as part of constitutional revision last year.
Clémence LAMBOTTE
For further information:
Euronews : http://fr.euronews.com/2018/05/06/une-election-presidentielle-compliquee-pour-erdogan
