How a Turkish general's smile is now a key election issue
Turkey's opposition parties are harshly criticizing the presence of military officers at election campaign events in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
There's not much time left before what could become Turkey's most consequential elections. On June 24, about 60 million people are expected to vote in what could lead to a regime change. All candidates, notably President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have stepped up their campaigns.
But the three different "hats" Erdogan wears in his campaign have made Turkey’s civilian-military relations — already strained by the 2016 attempted coup — more fragile.
As Erdogan campaigns across the country, he is representing the commander in chief of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) on behalf of the Turkish parliament. He is the president of Turkey, but also a political party leader stumping for re-election. In cities he visits, he is accorded presidential protocol. That being the case, generals serving in those locations are required to attend his campaign events.
On June 2, Erdogan — as the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) — spoke at a dinner at Malatya and targeted Muharrem Ince, the presidential candidate for the Republican People’s Party. Erdogan said, “You can entrust your shop to an apprentice. You cannot entrust Turkey to political apprentices. We can never entrust the country to those who have had no success, no experience in politics. My brothers, there is nothing that those who have lost every contest they entered can give to themselves and to this country."
