London protests 8 June 2013 in support of the Mass movement in Turkey which challenged Erdogan's authoritarian government , photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
Turkey’s right-wing president Recep Erdogan has tightened his grip on state power following snap elections carried out under a continuing state of emergency.
New powers conferred on the presidency in last year’s narrowly won referendum will mean a strengthening of his authoritarian rule.
In addition to the electoral process being manipulated and fraudulent, the absence of a credible alternative ensured Erdogan’s victory.
His AKP party and its far-right MHP ally also secured a parliamentary majority. However, the left and pro-Kurdish party HDP (People’s Democratic Party), despite heavy state repression (its presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş, is in jail awaiting trial on trumped-up charges) achieved the 10% voter threshold with 12%.
Electoral victory will not mean plain sailing for Erdogan as Turkey’s capitalist economy is already on the rocks.
This will exacerbate the country’s social problems and, at some stage, provoke a working class response.
- See socialistworld.net for analysis and updates from Sosyalist Alternatif, CWI in Turkey
