The position of the Turkish president and the parliament is expected to be particularly tough, inflexible and extremely aggressive in Greek-Turkish relations, as a result of which we expect a new protracted period of protracted tension in the relations of the two countries.
In our recent article attempt to decipher the results of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey.
The big winner of the May 14 elections in Turkey was Nationalism
Reading the results of the May 14 elections in Turkey, we will see that the big winner is Turkish nationalism, either with Erdogan or with Kilinjaroglu at the head of the neighboring country, and this is the most worrying thing for the direction of the Greek-Turkish . relations.
The reason is that the nationalist parties have a percentage of more than 25%, if we add the percentages received in the parliamentary elections by the MHP Gray Wolves party (10.4%), which is Erdogan’s government partner, the IYI party ( 9.9%) of “Lykaina Askener, a member of Kilintzlaroglou and of the nationalist Sinan Onan, third candidate for the presidential office (5.28%).
Together, the nationalist parties have a share of 25.58%, which essentially means that one in four Turkish voters is an extreme nationalist.
Kilinjaroglou’s turn towards transnationalism
This caught the attention of Kilinjaroglou, who according to an article in a renowned international media, “adopts hypernationalist rhetoric to beat Erdogan in the second round”, whose main points in our opinion are the following:
“Opposition leader and presidential candidate Kilinjaroglu has changed his rhetoric and campaign strategy after failing to win Turkey’s May 14 presidential election, which required a May 28 runoff.
Sinan Ogan, the third candidate received 5.28% of the vote on Sunday.
Who is Sinan Ogan and what are his positions on Syrian refugees
Ogan is the candidate of an alliance that supports the return of refugees to Syria either voluntarily or by force.
Ogan, a former member of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said he would announce who he would support in the runoff after negotiations with the rival parties.
Kilinjaroglou ran his election campaign until May 14, following a strategy that focused on the country’s economic difficulties and vowed to return to a parliamentary system of government instead of the current executive presidency.
When Erdogan received 49.5% of the vote, it became clear that the voters’ preferences were based on national identity, national security and terrorism.
Erdogan even boosted his vote in the region hit by two earthquakes in February that killed more than 50,000 people, according to the latest official figures, despite his failure to deliver aid or send rescue teams immediately after the disaster.
Identification of views on Syrian refugees by Kilinjaroglou with sinan ogan
Kilinjaroglou, who received 45% of the vote on Sunday, launched his new election campaign with a video saying: “We will not leave the government of our country in the hands of the people who brought us 10 million refugees. Border protection is an honor.”
“We will not leave our country in the hands of those who are incapable of protecting our honor and those who simply sit back and watch this flood of refugees,” he added.
Erdogan’s trick with Syrian refugees
As of May 11, there were 3,388,689 documented Syrians under temporary protection in Türkiye. The opposition claims that the number of Syrians in Turkey is much higher than the official figures.
According to official records, 211,908 Syrians have received Turkish citizenship.
Opposition parties claim that this number is also much higher in reality and that the government has been secretly naturalizing many more Syrians to increase their votes in the 2023 elections.
Turkish media reported that a significant number of naturalized Syrians changed their names to avoid detection in voter registration surveys..
Kilinjaroglu’s accusations against Erdogan
Kilinjaroglu accused Erdogan of conspiring against the Turkish military, working with the US and the Gulen movement.
By repeating this argument, which is often made by ultranationalists, Kilinjaroglou showed that he has taken a more nationalist stance.
Kilicdaroglu also accused Erdogan of being controlled by Russia..
In a tweet in Turkish and Russian posted before May 14, he said there could be Russian interference in the election and told the Russians not to interfere “in our internal affairs,” to which Erdogan replied: “If they attack Putin , I can not stay”. silence”, although Kilinjaroglu did not mention Putin by name.
During the election campaign, Erdogan accused Kılıçdaroğlu of collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Gülen movement.
Finally, Kilinjaroglu ran a pro-Western campaign, stressing the importance of the NATO alliance and declaring that, if elected, he would improve relations between Turkey and the West.
However, the huge increase in the number of nationalist and Islamist voters in the May 14 elections may mean that these promises will not be repeated before the second round.
What can we expect next for the Greco-Turkic languages?
As we mentioned earlier, the nationalist parties mustered a percentage of 25.58%, which essentially means that one in four Turkish voters is an extreme nationalist.
The bad thing for Greece is the MHP of Bahtceli’s gray wolves and Askener’s IYI party, they are the main partners of Erdogan and Kilinztaroglu respectively, both in the Turkish Parliament and in the fight for the Presidency.
After this, the position of the Turkish president and the parliament is expected to be particularly tough, inflexible and extremely aggressive towards the Greek-Turks, with the result that we expect a new prolonged period of tension in the relations of the two countries. which, combined with the nationalist visions of the Turks for the celebration of 100 years since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, may even lead to an armed conflict in the Aegean with Greece.