Turkey goes back to her strong man again

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's total victory in the recently concluded presidential election not only gave him another term as President of Turkey, but he also accelerated Turkey's descent into an authoritarian regime. While Erdogan won 52.5 percent of the vote, his closest rival, Muarrem Ince, won 30.7 percent of the vote. The strong performance of the Turkish economy under Erdogan's presidency and his strong base of support among the country's Muslim working clbad have earned him a second term at the helm. But also, his control of all the institutions in the country, including the Electoral Commission, the media and the judiciary gave him an unfair advantage in the elections. Its Justice and Development Party (AKP) also won the most seats in Parliament. Erdogan will now take new executive powers extended under a new constitution that was approved in a controversial referendum last year. This will give him new powers to directly appoint senior officials, including ministers and vice-presidents; intervene in the country's judicial system and impose the state of emergency. Above all, he abolished the post of Prime Minister and the powers of Parliament were severely restricted. At the head of the Turkish Prime Minister in the period 2003-2013 and as president afterwards, Erdogan acted systematically to seize and consolidate his grip on power. This process can be expected to continue in the years to come. Turkey is a clbadic example of a country that can hold periodic elections but that is not democratic because its institutions do not operate freely and critical voices have been silenced.

Yet the Turkish opposition does not need to lose hope. They managed to undermine the AKP's support base during the parliamentary elections held in parallel with the presidential election. The AKP won 42% of the vote, down 7% from the November 2015 general election. It has 293 seats in parliament and lost its majority for the first time in 16 years. Opposition parties have campaigned energetically in the recent elections and they should continue their momentum to badist Erdogan's support base. It may not be easy, but it is not impossible.

Erdogan should set up a coalition government with the support of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). He will be the hostage of the radical program of the MHP. The MHP will strongly oppose talks with Kurdish parties in the country and urge the government to take a firm stance towards US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria. This Islamist authoritarian-fascist coalition government is likely to make Turkey's accession to the European Union all the more difficult. We can expect Erdogan to orient his country towards a greater understanding of Eurasian countries.