Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the clear winner of the Aug. 10 presidential elections and will become Turkey’s 12th president. Debate will continue, however, as to whether this was a fair win, since Erdogan used all the advantages of his position during his campaign against his rivals.
Even US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Aug. 11 that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had pointed to this issue in a preliminary report before the elections. She indicated, on the basis of that report, that the candidates were generally able to campaign freely and that freedoms of association and assembly were respected.