Selman Deveci, a chef working his shift at a cafe in the Turkish city of Konya, voices what an increasing number of voters are whispering in the region that had been a stronghold for president Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “I want change.”
“They’ve screwed the economy,” Deveci says of the rampant inflation and plummeting lira that had taken a heavy toll on people’s finances. The erosion of basic rights and freedoms in Turkey and a system of government that concentrates power in the president’s hands have also turned Deveci away from Erdogan.
And yet Deveci can find few reasons to instead vote for the six-party opposition coalition forged with the aim of unseating the long-time leader in next month’s elections. “I don’t have faith in them,” he says.
Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) are fighting one of the toughest campaigns in their two decades in power. National polls put him neck-and-neck with Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the 74-year-old leader of the Republican People’s Party who will represent the united opposition in the presidential vote on May 14th.
Deveci’s views show why the election hangs in the balance, despite the disillusionment of many in Turkey at the inflation crisis under Erdogan’s watch that has been compounded by anger at his government’s botched response to the devastating earthquake in February.
Erdogan (69), has long been able to count on the support of religiously conservative regions in the country’s Anatolian heartland, such as Konya. Three out of four voters across the wider province backed him in the most recent presidential election in 2018.
irishtimes.com