The Middle East Report Online (MERO) published an article by Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies Nabil Al-Tikriti, entitled “Autopsy of Erdoǧan’s Istanbul Defeat.” In the course of this article, Professor Al-Tikriti analyzed the political and economic dynamics driving the results of the June 23, 2019 Istanbul special elections, which proved a landslide defeat for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
“Certainties that had defined Turkish politics for a generation were thrown into doubt by the overwhelming victory Istanbul voters handed the opposition CHP party’s mayoral candidate Ekrem İmamoǧlu on June 23, 2019,” Al-Tikriti said. “Voters responded with righteous and smoldering fury to the ruling AKP party’s blatant tampering with the democratic process after it had annulled İmamoǧlu’s previous, and much closer, victory over the AKP’s candidate Binali Yıldırım on March 31, forcing a new election for mayor of the Greater Istanbul Municipality. While not the first electoral setback Turkish President and AKP party leader Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan has faced, it was the first time his own actions boomeranged so pointedly against his own agenda…”
For the full article see: https://merip.org/2019/09/autopsy-of-erdo%C7 %A7ans-istanbul-defeat/