DC Edit | Erdogan's victory in Turkey good news for strongmen
Deccan ChronicleThere is some good news for strongmen leaders across the world — one of their own, a great exemplar of hardcore culturally and religious conservative values stormed to power, yet again. But the polls swung after a third fringe candidate, Sinan Ogan endorsed President Erdogan, after his ultra-nationalist right wing campaign managed to unexpectedly win 5.2 per cent. As the campaign augmented the bitterness of a deep political divide and furthered the strong differences of the two main parties, and candidates, Erdogan’s strongly Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party appealed to people with conservative nationalist rhetoric, whereas Kilicdaroglu initially tried to highlight the failures of the government on the economic front, the steep inflation and the failure of Erdogan in helping people after a massive earthquake struck the nation earlier this year. Reaching out to deep emotions with his personal charisma, President Erdogan, who has been steadfast in dismantling the secular values of the founding father, spoke of reshaping the future as the century of Turkey, and fought on the slogan, ‘One nation, one flag, one motherland, one state.’ And unsaid, it implied, one supreme leader. But after winning the elections, which were welcomed by global leaders, with US President Joe Biden, Russian strongman Putin, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others, congratulating him and promising to work together and further build cooperation, Mr Erdogan now faces the challenge of rebuilding a nation with a fragile economy and politically divided society.