With little mention by UK broadcasters and scarcely more in the press, remarkable scenes have been taking place in Turkey as crowds of hundreds of thousands gather to hear and cheer the Opposition leader they think could topple Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan:
Muharrem Ince, campaigning under a motto of peace and sharing, has taken his party’s polling from twenty percent to thirty percent in just a few weeks of a campaign that will have seen him visit 107 towns and cities in forty-five days by the time polling stations open on Sunday.
Ince told interviewer Christiane Amanpour that he felt he could win in spite of Erdogan’s ruthlessness because “I believe in the power of the street”:
https://twitter.com/GeziWoman__/status/1010229315320066050
Ince’s secularist and unashamedly populist campaign seems to be resonating with a population still suffering under Erdogan’s massive wave of arrests, allegedly to prevent a huge conspiracy but which has resulted in lifetime prison sentences even for young students.
The Erdogan regime’s fear may be reflected in the recent banning of election observers, prompting fears that the election will be fixed to protect the Establishment.
After enormous rallies in Izmir and Ankara in the last couple of days, Saturday will see the climax of the campaign with what is expected to be an even larger turn-out in Istanbul.
Could this be a landmark moment, not only for Turkey but for those suffering under oppressive and venal government in the UK and elsewhere?
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Realistically it would be a miracle if he were to win, but incrementally it’s hopeful. And what Trump wouldn’t give for a real life crowd like that rather than the one in his imagination.
I will say a prayer for him.
Hope the people create greater crowds than the one shown, at every city, town or gathering, he attends.
If all this happens, maybe, he will win and change the hard core regime that now have control in Turkey.
The Establishment rely on peoples lethargy and resignation that nothing can be done.
People first need to understand that they are the creators of wealth not the rich which exploit them.
The media peddle propaganda as fact, when the reverse is the truth, they only tell people what they want them to know, and then it has to be spun in order to keep on message.
When you are at the bottom of the ladder and told to take another step down it must be obvious to all that something is dramatically wrong somewhere.
Yes hope the kick the vile Ergogen out and release all political prisoners including journalists and academics. Hopefully with the HDP as well there is hope.