Opposition revival in Turkey’s political churn

Erdogan, a former Istanbul mayor, has been accused of running an increasingly authoritarian regime that has jailed many of its critics. His followers project him as a State-builder comparable to Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, and he harbours visions of reviving Turkey’s Ottoman legacy, including becoming the pre-eminent power in West Asia, by rejecting Ataturk’s secular heritage and reimagining Turkey as an Islamic nation. This enabled him to dislodge the old ruling elite and ride a surge of the subalterns, who identified with his faith-centred politics. However, an economy in decline, highlighted by high inflation and low employment opportunities seems to have turned the tide against the AKP. Importantly, the Islamist Yeniden Refah (New Welfare) Party, founded in 2018 by Fatih Erbakan, the son of Islamist leader Necmettin Erbakan, who inspired Erdogan, has won over 6% of the vote. Clearly, the AKP’s defeat in the key cities has also to do with its failure to consolidate its core base, some of which has moved to the Yeniden Refah Party. Imamoglu, 52, appears to have the stature, popularity and ambition to unite a fractious Opposition. But he should know the churn in Turkey is also producing new Right-wing voices.