Thursday, March 22, 2018

With Turkey's Win Over The Syrian Kurds At Afrin, Speculation Is Rife That Erdogan Will Call For Early General And Presidential Elections



VOA: Early Election Fever Grows With Turkish Military Victory in Syria

With Turkish led military forces scoring a decisive victory in Syria against the YPG Kurdish militia, speculation is rife in Turkey of early general and presidential elections.

Sunday's capture of the key Syrian town of Afrin from the YPG was perfectly choreographed to coincide with Turkey's Martyrs Day. The symbolism was not lost on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has linked his fortunes to the military incursion, declaring the Syrian campaign the most important since Turkey's war of independence.

Ankara calls the YPG "terrorists", linking the militia to a decades long Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey. Erdogan's political message has been obediently followed by most the media, which is under direct or indirect government control.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: If there are early elections, President Erdogan and his ruling party will lose the Kurdish vote (they traditionally receive about half of the vote) to a new and moderate Kurdish political party that is attracting a lot of voters. But if he waits .... and this new Kurdish political party continues to grow .... he will lose his parliamentary majority. Everything that Turkish President Erdogan is doing right now is to position himself to win the next election .... but if things go south in Syria .... he may find himself facing blow-back at the polls. My prediction .... he controls the media .... so I expect him to do something "bold" and the media will back-him. As to what is that "bold move" .... from my perspective it could be anything.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Would not surprise me of the Turkish Hitler would do a 'Night of the Long Knives' on any potential political party that rises up to challenge him.

In fact, I would be surprised if he didn't take any aggressive action against said party.