Tomorrow, on 24th June, early parliamentary and presidential elections will take place in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the elections on April 18, with the aim of accelerating the transition to the presidential system. Now these elections could cost him the majority.
Millions of people cheer for his strongest challenger, physics teacher and social democrat Muharrem İnce. According to Can Dündar, editor-in-chief of the German-Turkish news platform “Özgürüz“, who has been living in exile in Germany since 2016, the 54-year-old İnce belongs to the community of secular Muslims who, in their own words, see themselves as an “integral part of European society, who are open and curious towards their fellow human beings, European culture and the challenges of modernity”. Tomorrow’s election could herald a political turnaround in Turkey that Erdogan had not intended.
CNN journalist Gul Tuysuz has summarized what’s important to know about Turkey’s elections, you can read her text here.