Umut Korkut, Professor of International Politics at Glasgow School for Business and Society at Glasgow Caledonian University spoke to CGTN Europe on Turkish local election.
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00:00 Well, Omer Sorkut is a professor of international politics at Glasgow Caledonian University.
00:06 Professor, good to see you. Thanks very much for your time.
00:08 Where did it all go so wrong for President Erdogan?
00:11 Good to see you again, Jamie.
00:13 I don't think that President Erdogan was expecting this result,
00:17 but I don't think that the opposition was expecting this result either.
00:20 I think that President Erdogan concentrated on winning Istanbul
00:24 because, as you would have guessed, it was the biggest boon for AKP.
00:27 However, they could not really control the voters' preferences
00:31 and then the voters, they seemed to have veered away from AKP tremendously.
00:36 When it comes to elections around the world,
00:39 someone famously once said, "It's the economy, stupid."
00:43 Was that the story in Turkey?
00:46 Most definitely.
00:48 However, I don't think that the economy is the only explanation.
00:51 Nine months ago, actually, in a situation where the economy was not too different,
00:55 President Erdogan still pulled the game.
00:58 This time around, the opposition seems to have found much better candidates to run.
01:02 It's also the fact that the Turkish population,
01:06 as well as other voters around the world,
01:07 I think they started to understand that local elections, they really matter,
01:11 if they cannot really damp the power of the powerholders
01:15 that occupy the presidency or the executive.
01:18 I mean, it's worth reinforcing, of course, these are local elections.
01:23 How can we extrapolate these results onto national elections
01:28 and assume that Turkey really is set on a new post-Erdogan course?
01:35 I think it is starting already.
01:39 There are four years until the next presidential elections
01:42 or the parliamentary elections.
01:44 However, for the first time since 1977,
01:47 Republican People's Party, the secular party,
01:50 is the biggest party in Turkey.
01:51 This is a significant gain.
01:53 It will also start to show that the Republican People's Party
01:57 can control big cities, small cities, Anatolian cities,
02:00 even faraway cities in Turkey's east.
02:03 And then they will start to show that an alternative is possible.
02:06 Actually, last night, if you compare the victory speech
02:08 of Republican People's Party and then the Balkan speech of Erdogan,
02:13 which had been his traditional, you could really see the difference.
02:16 At the moment, Erdogan started to represent the old Turkey
02:19 that he always wanted to fight against,
02:22 whereas Republican People's Party is now representing new Turkey.
02:26 Turkey's problems are deep-seated, though, aren't they?
02:29 I mean, will this new change in the political landscape
02:34 really fix things without some very difficult choices?
02:39 I mean, not in the short run, definitely not,
02:43 because, I mean, ultimately, there's a presidential system.
02:47 AKP is pretty much in charge of the executive,
02:49 and there's not much you can do in terms of, you know,
02:52 controlling the local governments, etc.
02:54 However, this will start to signify that there could be an alternative,
02:59 and then this may actually boost the visibility
03:02 of Republican People's Party.
03:03 And even if they have four more years to go,
03:05 it may present them as an alternative for a much wider populace.
03:09 Professor, good to see you.
03:10 Thanks so much for coming on the programme again.
03:11 Omer Korkut, Professor of International Politics
03:15 at Glasgow Caledonian University.