Voter seeking change in Turkey holds out hope as election heads into run-off
Presidential run-off pits incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan against main rival Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu
Ayça Özkan is heartbroken that her preferred candidate in Turkey's presidential election didn't win in the first round. But she says she's clinging to the "slim hope" that will he will be victorious in the run-off.
Özkan is a Turkish university student and a staunch supporter of opposition leader Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu, who she is hoping will finally end the 20-year reign of the increasingly authoritarian Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Preliminary results show Erdogan with 49.51 per cent of the vote — just shy of the 50 per cent he needed to hold onto the presidency — and Kiliçdaroğlu with 44.88 per cent. A third candidate, Sinan Ogan, received 5.17 per cent.
Now Erdogan and Kiliçdaroğlu will go head-to-head in a run-off election on May 28.
Özkan spoke to As It Happens host Nil Köksal from the capital city of Ankara. Here is part of their conversation.
I know it was a very long night for you and people across Turkey. I'm wondering, though, how you're feeling this morning about the results so far in this first round?
I woke up in a very doom-and-gloom mood, to say the least. It was certainly a tumultuous night. And I, basically, was completely devastated in the morning. But I'm doing a bit better now. It just took me a while to process things.
It wasn't entirely a surprise for us, but it was still disappointing.
There [were] some early polls that suggested Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu had support and that he could even win in the first round. When did you realize last night that that was not going to happen?
I think around, like, 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. [What] hit the nail for us was seeing Erdogan making a typical balcony speech as if he won ... before the results came.
In that speech, Erdogan mocked Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu, saying, you know, "Some of us are in the kitchen while others are on the balcony," talking about himself and making reference to Mr. Kiliçdaroğlu's videos throughout the campaign speaking to people from his kitchen. What did you make, though, of what you heard and saw from Kiliçdaroğlu in his appearances as the votes were being counted last night?
I think what always drew us to Kiliçdaroğlu from the beginning was his humility. [But] we were always worried, because he lacked the bombastic appeal, the charismatic speaker appeal, of Erdogan. We always knew Kiliçdaroğlu wasn't exactly that … so it wasn't exactly a hurtful blow for us for hearing [Erdogan] say that.
But what hurt us more is that after hours of waiting for Kiliçdaroğlu to make a comeback and talk to us, his speech was very underwhelming, to say the least. I've heard even his most staunch supporters around me say that they felt like they were kind of left behind and a bit sidelined.
It seems that he must have heard those criticisms. He put out a clip today on his social media accounts…. Roughly, he's saying: "I am here. You, the voters, are here." And he gestures at his heart and then he says, "I swear I'm going to fight until the end." And you can hear him banging on the table.
So that's uncharacteristically forceful for him.... The tone of his voice was different. What did you make of that?
We, actually, in these moments, really need for him to be a bit tougher, a bit intense, a bit more strong for us. So it was appreciated by some sides, but some are already a bit lost.
Lost as in they feel so disheartened by the results they won't show up in two weeks for him?
I've heard people talking about [how] they don't want to go to the ballots anymore in the next two weeks. But that might have been an emotional reaction, as well. Because I, too, have not been very hopeful in the morning. But over some time, I had friends and other people cheer me up a bit more.
Because we have never gotten this close… so there's still hope. It's slim hope, but we are all holding on to it.
WATCH | Turkey presidential election headed to run-off vote:
We first had you on our show, Ayça, back in February when you were helping out with earthquake relief efforts. At the time, you and others were very critical of the Erdogan government for the delayed response to those deadly earthquakes. Yet overnight in these first-round election results, we've seen that he still has very strong support, it appears, in the areas hit very hard by the earthquakes. What do you make of those results?
I talked with a few people, as well, about this. I actually have a friend who is [doing] research about this. And they have sort of concluded in their early research that this is kind of due to displacement, and people who have lost their lives over the earthquake as well… And so the displacement forced progressives out of these regions, and the ones who are more Erdogan sympathizers stayed.
But there's also the fact that we are very used to neglect already. And so we were used to having zero attention. And even ... if it was late, Erdogan possibly won their hearts in some way — in a way that, I guess, the opposition couldn't. So they still defend him.
What do you think Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu has to do over these next two weeks?
The next two weeks [are] going to be really tough. I think normally, ideologically, I would never support this, but he should try to appeal to the right-wing voters more. He should also focus [on] the people who didn't go to ballots at all in this election.
Does it surprise you to hear yourself saying what you're saying, knowing that ideologically, you disagree?
Yes, I wouldn't say this last week at all. I was a bit more, I guess, idealist last week. But now we're in a very dangerous position — and this is possibly our last exit.
With files from The Associated Press. Interview produced by Morgan Passi. Edited for length and clarity.
