How Leftwingers Could Help Take Down Erdoğan | | Steven Methven: Ertuğrul Kürkcü, honorary president of the leftwing, pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP), recently described Sunday's election in Turkey as a chance "to defeat Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's march to fascism". But on the eve of the election, Twitter announced it would heed a demand from the Turkish government to block certain accounts – likely those of opposition parties. If Kürkcü's assessment was correct, had Elon Musk, in a country in which Erdoğan controls most of the media, just helped the authoritarian president take another step towards a third term?
With neither Erdoğan nor his main rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu having passed the 50% threshold required to win, a run-off election will now take place on 28 May. But the incumbent has done better than many expected. Despite overseeing a shocking economic crisis – inflation hit 85% last October – and facing criticism for his slow response to February's devastating earthquakes, Erdoğan appears to be closest to the threshold. His Justice and Development Party (AKP) is also set to be the largest in parliament – though it suffered its worst result since Erdoğan took power 20 years ago.
But Kürkcu, speaking to Novara Media as the first results began to roll in, wasn't surprised. "A neck to neck election result, that's what I can predict now," he said. However, as "the state agency traditionally starts displaying in their statistics at least 60% in favour of Erdoğan," the fact that early results put the incumbent at around 50% "means there's been a considerable fall in Erdoğan's support".
Turkey's third largest party, HDP, played a vital role in creating the conditions that give this election a fighting chance of blocking Erdoğan's progress towards outright autocracy. Early last year, it invited other leftwing parties to form a political alliance. Six months later, the Labour and Freedom Alliance was announced, strategically aligning socialist and leftist parties with those representing Kurdish liberation. In a recent interview, Turkish writer Alp Kayserilioglu described the Alliance as "a strong left bloc" which is "maybe new in the entire history of modern Turkey, but for sure new in the history of the AKP era". | |  | FEATURE Where Are the Shadwell Fire Survivors Supposed to Go? by Rivkah Brown
Two months after their state-sanctioned slum burned down, killing one of their housemates, six of the Tower Hamlets survivors remain homeless. Rivkah Brown reports. Read more... |  | FEATURE The Biggest 'Renewable' Power Plant in the UK Burns Wood Processed in Poor, Black Communities in the US by Simon Childs
Protesters disrupted the AGM of Britain's largest CO2 emitter, accusing it of 'environmental racism'. Read more... | | Support independent journalism. | | | We've got big plans for our written journalism, aiming to bring you even more analysis, opinion and reporting than we've been able to before. Setting up a regular monthly donation is the best way to help us sustain our work, grow our output, and expand our reach. Support us with a monthly donation from just £1 per month to help us to plan our future, and be more resilient in the media space. Alternatively, you can support us with a one-off donation. We know times are really tough, so any support you give does not go unnoticed. Thanks so much – we couldn't do this without you. | | | |
Basado en dos novelas del escritor británico Darren Shan, que son parte de una trilogía, que a su vez es parte de var...
Título original La science des rêves - The Science of Sleep Año 2006 Duración 105 min. País Francia Director Michel Gondry...
No hay comentarios :
Publicar un comentario