In May, Turkey will make a choice: Erdoğan’s Islamist populism or Atatürk’s secular modernisation?
Since taking power in 2003, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has challenged the legacy of Atatürk, who founded the Republic a century ago.
Turkey has two historic events on the horizon. On May 14, voters will go to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections, and in October, the country will celebrate the centennial of the Republic.
In 1923, military leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk led the foundation of the Republic of Turkey as a secular and Turkish nationalist state, unlike its forerunner, the Ottoman Empire, which had Islamic laws and was ethnically diverse.
Since taking power in 2003, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has challenged Atatürk’s legacy. Erdoğan was prime minister from 2003 to 2014, after which he became president – a position that was largely symbolic in Turkey until a series of constitutional amendments in 2017 made the president the head of government.
During his 20 years leading the country, Erdoğan has tried to revive the Ottoman era in various ways, from the conversion of Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque again to a wildly popular historical TV series glorifying the Ottomans broadcast on a state-run TV network.
As a professor of political science, I have analysed Turkish politics for many years. The upcoming elections are truly historic because voters will choose that vision they prefer in the second centennial of Turkey – Erdoğan’s or Atatürk’s.
The presidential race
Four candidates are running in the forthcoming presidential race. But public surveys suggest that it is a two-man race between President Erdoğan and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader...