How Erdogan won after a close call in Turkey
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2023
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Summary
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won reelection, beating a challenge from a united opposition movement and cementing his tenure at the country’s helm into a third decade.
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Erdogan’s victory affirmed his political survival and his support among loyal supporters, many of them conservative Muslims. Turkey’s overseas allies, including the United States, must now navigate their relationship with Erdogan and his relations with international actors, including Russia.
Istanbul bureau chief Kareem Fahim explains what Erdogan’s win means for people in Turkey and globally.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Are all your friends voting today? |
| 0:06.0 | Yes. |
| 0:07.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:08.0 | Yeah. |
| 0:12.0 | This election was really seen as sort of monumentally important. |
| 0:17.0 | President Erdogan, who's been in power for 20 years, |
| 0:21.0 | suddenly looked a lot more vulnerable than he has in the past. |
| 0:27.0 | Kareem Fahim is the post-bureau chief in Istanbul. |
| 0:30.0 | He's been covering the pivotal presidential elections |
| 0:33.0 | in Turkey this month between President Rajip Tayyip Erdogan |
| 0:37.0 | and his challenger, Kamal Khalid Staralu. |
| 0:40.0 | It was the tightest presidential race in the history of modern Turkey. |
| 0:44.0 | Turkey has been suffering through a year's long economic crisis that is affected. |
| 0:50.0 | Basically, everybody in the country, the political opposition here in Turkey, |
| 0:55.0 | was more united than it has been in the past. |
| 0:59.0 | And this was their shot. |
| 1:02.0 | On Sunday, Erdogan won. |
| 1:04.0 | But just a few weeks ago, this outcome wasn't all that certain. |
| 1:08.0 | Kareem says that when he and his colleague Zeynab Karatash |
| 1:11.0 | were out talking to people in Istanbul, the energy and the tension |
| 1:15.0 | around Turkey's future were palpable. |
| 1:18.0 | You know, among people who were supporting the opposition, |
... |
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