What will Erdogan do if AKP fails again?
The prospect of yet another snap election in Turkey after the Nov. 1 polls should not be ruled out if the AKP fails again to clinch the parliamentary majority.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s political acumen is beyond dispute. It is already working wonders to spin the potential failure of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Nov. 1 polls as a victory.
In an Oct. 17 speech, Erdogan made it known he will claim a personal victory even if the AKP repeats its June 7 failure to win a parliamentary majority, as expected. Lashing out at opposition leaders for refusing to visit his newly built palace, often called the “illegal palace” for its dubious construction, he said, “May stones as big as the ‘illegal palace’ fall down your heads. ... Sooner or later, you’ll come — like lambs. You can’t help but come.”
What could leave opposition leaders as helpless as lambs and make them go to the presidential palace? Becoming coalition partners or receiving the mandate to form the government, of course.
The head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, must have also sensed he could be invited to the palace after the elections, for two days later he responded in kind: “Don’t you worry. He’ll give us the mandate willy-nilly.”
