Will local election defeat force Erdogan to improve ties with West?
Turkey needs better ties with the United States and Europe to heal the ailing Turkish economy, but experts are not optimistic that Erdogan will do this.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to downplay the defeat his party suffered in Turkey’s local elections March 31 by pointing out that mayoral candidates from his Justice and Development Party (AKP) gained a plurality of votes nationwide.
Technically he is justified in saying that if general elections were held tomorrow, the AKP would win again.
“I offer my gratitude to those who made us the first party at the ballot box,” he told supporters he was addressing from the AKP’s headquarters in Ankara during the “balcony speech” he traditionally delivers following his electoral victories.
The picture this time, however, is more complicated than Erdogan would like to present.
