Turkey riding a wave of nationalism as presidential runoff election looms (See translation in Arabic section) Suffering a massive economic crisis and surrounded by countries at war, Turkey is witnessing a resurgence of nationalism that has impacted the fate of its biggest election of modern times. Leading his rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, by nearly five points after the first round, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan enters Sunday’s runoff as the firm favourite. The Islamic-rooted leader’s chances have been bolstered by the endorsement of Sinan Ogan, an ultra-nationalist who came out of seemingly nowhere to win 5.2 percent of the vote on May 14. Smaller right-wing parties also picked up nearly a quarter of the parallel parliamentary polls. Historians and analysts are struck by the symbolism of a patriotic wave washing over Turkey on the 100-year anniversary of its foundation as a post-Ottoman republic. The modern state's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, made ‘Turkishness’ into a national idea and unifying force that bridged the cultural and religious divisions of the old empire. Surrounded by wars stretching from Syria to Ukraine, and living through its worst cost-of-living crisis since the 1990s, Turks are embracing nationalism again. “Nationalism is a comfort, we feel good there,” said French historian Etienne Copeaux, a specialist in Turkish nationalism. "The allegedly secular Turkey is a myth," Copeaux said, pointing to a maxim adopted by the MHP, an ultra-nationalist party that has joined forces with Erdogan's Islamic-rooted AKP. "One is not Turkish if one is not Muslim," the MHP affirm. Chipping away at Turkey’s secular foundations by allowing women to stay veiled in public and converting ancient churches into mosques, Erdogan has been careful to “never completely reject” Ataturk’s legacy, Copeaux said. Others, like Can Dundar, are more sceptical. Living in self-imposed exile because of a highly controversial “terrorism” conviction in Turkey, the former Cumhuriyet newspaper editor laments voters’ decision to pick stability over change. He noted that this tendency is not specific to Turkey in times of crisis but it has been especially pronounced in this vote. |
