27 votes

Istanbul mayoral re-run: Turkey's ruling AKP set to lose in blow for Erdoğan

8 comments

  1. [8]
    unknown user
    Link
    With 99% votes counted, the victory is certain, with a difference of 800k votes out of 8 million, approximately: almost 10% difference. As a young Istanbulite, I can't describe the joy I feel with...

    With 99% votes counted, the victory is certain, with a difference of 800k votes out of 8 million, approximately: almost 10% difference. As a young Istanbulite, I can't describe the joy I feel with words.

    Istanbul holds 20% of Turkey's population and the vast majority of its economy. This change means change at the national level.

    Today we behold history happen: the opposition toppled a corrupt mayoral regime at the ballots, despite the entire state apparatus, the entire mainstream media, despite endless libel, lies, hate, threats, power and money utilised by the ruling bloc.

    This does not mean the country will change fundamentally right this moment. But this will be the catalyzer of a chain reaction for sure.

    Her şey çok güzel olacak!

    25 votes
    1. [5]
      Neverland
      Link Parent
      I was looking forward to reading your response to this post, and I am happy to say that this brought me to actual tears of joy. The authoritarian right has been on global winning streak of late,...

      As a young Istanbulite, I can't describe the joy I feel with words.

      I was looking forward to reading your response to this post, and I am happy to say that this brought me to actual tears of joy. The authoritarian right has been on global winning streak of late, and this event in Turkey is truly inspirational to all supporters of democracy, everywhere.

      8 votes
      1. [4]
        unknown user
        Link Parent
        Glad that you share the joy of tonight! I was so happy to find something posted about these elections before I did! Let's hope the rest of the world won't need to live through the hell that we had...

        Glad that you share the joy of tonight! I was so happy to find something posted about these elections before I did!

        Let's hope the rest of the world won't need to live through the hell that we had to.

        I will tell you one thing, one thing that these new CHP mayors did: they put camcorders in the unions in the council, and they broadcasted it live. Everybody saw who did what, and who impeded what. That was so effective.

        And this is what these people promised: transparency, anti-corruption. And transparency has built this victory today.

        Can't downplay the "non-opposition" of Imamoglu though: from day one, his opposition was rare and to-the-point. Similarly with Mansur Yavas of Ankara. They won because they stood up there, not as opposers, but as doers, as promise-keepers, as creative mayors. And they delivered. During the 18 days Imamoglu was in office, he delivered three of his promises. They also started exhibiting what the previous guys did. But all throughout, they were not anti-anything, they were constructive, powerful, humble but not meek. They demonstrated that they were way more than some not-Erdogan.

        IDK what I'm talking about TBH, so jazzed up. Lemme shut up and you guys AmA if you will. I'll happily respond to any question when I wake up tomorrow!

        5 votes
        1. [3]
          bbvnvlt
          Link Parent
          Congrats. I have no idea how you must be feeling, but even as a non-Turk in North West Europe, I was glad to see the victory in the re-run. I read the Book of Radical Love a few days ago....

          Congrats. I have no idea how you must be feeling, but even as a non-Turk in North West Europe, I was glad to see the victory in the re-run.

          I read the Book of Radical Love a few days ago. Beautiful. I wonder, though, was this mainly a speeches/tv campaign or was there also an organized talking-to-fellow-voters initiative? If so, how?

          1 vote
          1. [2]
            unknown user
            Link Parent
            Thanks! I downloaded it but did not read it yet, tho the effects were easily observable. CHP's face changed deeply in the last few years. It used to be the party of the status quo, the...

            Thanks!

            I downloaded it but did not read it yet, tho the effects were easily observable. CHP's face changed deeply in the last few years. It used to be the party of the status quo, the democratic-military hybrid state. But now it is the party of the democratic revolution and progressive change. People like Imamoglu, but also Canan Kaftancioglu, Mahmut Tanal, Muharrem Ince, Ozgur Ozel brought about a more down-to-earth, more realistic, more humane politics to the party. The whole campaign was lead by this new political style on all available platforms. CHP was one of three big parties that supported Imamoglu. The others, IP and HDP worked just as hard. But above all, this is the work of AKP and MHP, i.e. the ruling bloc: they attacked everyone, they hurt everyone, and they managed to consolidate CHP (formerly the party of the Kemalist bougoisie, currently a general center-left party), IP (a new Turkish Nationalist party), SP (an Islamist party with ~1% vote), and HDP (a mainly Kurdish, but also LGBTQ+ and activist party) in a bloc that found common ground in a quest for peace and quiet. Prejudices were crushed. We needed each other to survive. As I walked along around the city, everybody spoke politics, everybody was talking about change, everybody needed change.

            AKP gained this much power because they did one big, important, good thing: they broke the status quo, and the power of army over the government. But then, they created their own status quo that had to be defended violently and immorally, and they replaced the army's power with the police, turning the country into a police state. They also infested the legal and bureaucratic apparatus with poisonous loyalists and paved the way for a party state. Furthermore, they crumbled the economy, and every single citizen with at least double digit IQ knows that the only one responsible of this downfall was the ruling bloc. MHP was traecherous at every turning point in the last twenty years, and they switched sides constantly and instantly. These two also gained power over the media which was recently consolidated by loyalist purchases.

            But all along people knew what happened, and those who didn't (or couldn't because propaganda was immensely uneven and immorally dishonest) came to learn, especially as Turkish Lira's value melted away like ice cream on sahara's sand. Vagabond Syrian refugees taken in by millions but without care and plan messed with peace and the job market. And people were fed up. Every honest person was in a search for an alternative, and in the last six months, it emerged. The opposition bloc gained strong leaders like Muharrem Ince, Meral Aksener (IP president), Ekrem Imamoglu, and Kemal Kilicdaroglu (CHP's president) and the other party leaders reacted well to the changes, let these people brighten up and gain fame and power, and did not exhibit jealousy and hatred common in politics. Above all, the new youth, the post-2000 generation started voting, and they voted for freedom and peace.

            Basically, we had the right people at the right time.

            6 votes
            1. bbvnvlt
              Link Parent
              Thank you! I wasn't aware of the coalition element to the victory. Always nice how one informed citizen can add so much to the simple view from general news stories.

              Thank you!

              I wasn't aware of the coalition element to the victory. Always nice how one informed citizen can add so much to the simple view from general news stories.

    2. [2]
      gpl
      Link Parent
      I'm very happy for you and your city and country right now. As you say, even if the country does not change right at this moment this is an exciting step nonetheless. Very inspiring to see, honestly.

      I'm very happy for you and your city and country right now. As you say, even if the country does not change right at this moment this is an exciting step nonetheless. Very inspiring to see, honestly.

      7 votes
      1. unknown user
        Link Parent
        Glad you share the excitement! You know what this whole thing brings to my mind: the story with Nikol Paşinyan in Armenia. That was one of the heartlifting things in the recent past, along with...

        Glad you share the excitement! You know what this whole thing brings to my mind: the story with Nikol Paşinyan in Armenia. That was one of the heartlifting things in the recent past, along with the change of the president of the soccer club Fenerbahce (which is an NGO, AFAIK). When that last one happened, I had this weird feeling that things were changing, that change was coming about. And now it is real! Hopefully we have bigger, better success in this!