Erdogan’s Russian Victory
On May 28, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish leader “who never loses elections”, won the runoff of Turkey’s presidential poll against his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Erdogan has been at Turkey’s helm since 2003, first as prime minister and then, since 2014, as president. His latest win gives him another five-year presidential term. Together with a sweep in the parliamentary polls on May 14 that yielded pro-Erdogan far-right- and right-wing parties a solid majority in the country’s legislature, his victory all but anoints Erdogan as Turkey’s indisputable sultan.
Defying the assessments of many Western observers who had predicted Erdogan would have trouble holding on, his relatively smooth path to reelection has raised far-reaching questions about the sources of his power.… Seguir leyendo »