​The state of Turkish opposition: Is a rebirth possible?

TURKEY - In Brief 22 Sep 2021 by Atilla Yesilada

For decade or so, I and Turkey commentators viewed Turkey through the lens of Erdogan’s eye. This was rational, as he completely dominated the political scene, outmaneuvering the opposition and deciding the national agenda in every sense of the world. I claim the end of the Erdogan Era is drawing near, as his party is cracking all the way to the core, and opinion polls reveal growing disappointment with his performance. Most importantly, through clever use of alternative media and much closer contact with the people, the opposition, namely the Nation Alliance (CHP-IYIP-SP-DP) are stealing the march on him. Pro-Kurdish Rights party, HDP saw its votes rise in 12 Kurdish cities, as it retains its share of the vote in metropolitan centers, despite unprecedented persecution and smear campaigns. In brief, there is enough evidence for me to assert that contrary to the experience of Russia, the Turkish opposition is gaining strength. This is the first of a series of Market Briefs, where I analyze the rise of the opposition, starting with the Nation Alliance. In all recent polls the official constituents of Nation Alliance collectively receive as many or more support than the governing AKP-MHP-BBP coalition. Moreover, in most presidential polls, Erdogan is seen losing to numerous potential rivals. The architect of this change in voter sentiment is CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who put together a diverse coalition of parties (SP = Islamist, IYIP =center right, DP = Center right, CHP = center left) which unite on the common denominator of restoring democracy to Turkey and returning to a revised version of the parliamentary system. By incorporating SP, Kilicdaroglu managed to fen...

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