Archives Elections - Page 16 of 18 - New Eastern Outlook

The interest of foreign world powers in the presidential elections in Turkey is not just idle curiosity, but is connected to the potential for future bilateral relations between Turkey and the countries in question. And in this, Russia is no exception. Attitudes to President Erdoğan vary, with some leaders seeing him as a friend, while for others the relationship is governed purely by his status, but he remains the leader of an important state, and that accounts for a great deal. And international interest in Turkey will remain unchanged if his challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu becomes the new leader. Politicians typically make an effort…

The parliamentary and presidential elections held on May 14 this year in Turkey, to which the special attention of external observers is riveted, nevertheless did not surprise with their results. First of all, the elections confirmed the high tension and the state of an almost proportional split in Turkish society into supporters and opponents of Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu, East and West, radical Islamic and moderately secular, imperial-independent and republican-pro-Western path of development of the country…

Observing the electoral process in today’s Turkey provides information that experts could not previously have guessed (or they were making their own assumptions without being able to confirm them). This refers to topics of primarily external nature rather than just to internal political interactions between the ruling party and the opposition bloc. The author is reminiscing on private discussions he had with knowledgeable analysts regarding the nature and patterns of relations between Turkey and its biggest NATO partner, the United States. At the time, despite direct consultations with members of the American political…