Impressive AFP Commentary on Turkey Elections: There Couldn’t Be a Better Time, But…
Analysis and commentary continue to pour in on the elections in Turkey, which the whole world will be watching closely in 2023.
While many Western media outlets and pundits broadcast their predictions and expectations about the election, the final analysis came from France. The France-based AFP news agency wrote a comprehensive analysis of the election, assessing both the opposition and Erdogan’s recent moves.
In the analysis entitled “Fighting prevents opposition from uniting against Erdogan in Turkey”, it is stated that “Despite recent gains, the heads of the 6 opposition leaders cannot benefit from Erdogan’s relative weakness”.
In the article, it was noted that Akşener went to Istanbul and provided support after the sentence given to İmamoğlu.
“COULDN’T BE A BETTER TIME TO OPPOSE”
“There is no better time to end the 20-year rule of President Erdogan than with the June elections on behalf of Turkey’s fragmented opposition,” says the analysis published on AFP. Inflation has risen, support for Erdogan has waned and anger is rising against the leadership of the AKP judiciary. However, the six opposition parties are running out of time to make decisions on many issues, from the candidate to face Erdogan, 68, to the strategy to follow.
Speaking to AFP, a Western diplomat said he was uncomfortable with this situation. Speaking to AFP and without revealing his name, the Western diplomat said: “The opposition in Turkey does not seem to be organized at all. What are your hours?” He said.
ERDOĞAN’S WINNING FORMULA
The AFP report indicated that Erdogan’s successful formula was to unite different societies in Turkey. The article states that “Erdogan’s formula for success was to bring together secular or religious, Turks or Kurds, liberals or nationalists at the polls. The strong economy contributed to this in the first 10 years.
It was said that a similar scenario could play out after the opposition came together in the 2019 local elections and won Istanbul and Ankara, breaking their aura. They look forward to doing this again.”
The AFP report said: “There is talk that Erdogan will withdraw the elections at the end of April or beginning of May, and if that happens, then the opposition will have even less time to prepare.”