Over the weekend, President Erdoğan and his new Cabinet started working toward the “Century of Türkiye.” The Turkish leader has many items on his diplomatic agenda – as the number of world leaders congratulating him and attending his inauguration ceremony suggests. Over the following years, Türkiye will promote peace, stability and cooperation in its neighborhood, consolidate its continent-wide initiatives and strive toward a more just world order.

At the height of his political power, Erdoğan will make improvements to the presidential system in an attempt to consolidate it. Adopting a holistic approach to all parts of politics, he will try to take bold steps and launch new initiatives in Türkiye.

The most common question on most minds nowadays would probably be the concern regarding how Türkiye is planning to bring inflation down and prop up the Turkish lira. Furthermore, why won’t policymakers raise interest rates like the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) or the European Central Bank (ECB)?

Erdoğan has a respectable track record. In addition to the 1994 mayoral race in Istanbul, he has won 16 popular contests (including several constitutional referendums) since 2002. In May 2023, after 21 years in power, the Turkish leader achieved a parliamentary majority with the People’s Alliance and received the Turkish people’s permission to serve five more years as president.

Türkiye faced a historic election on May 14. In accordance with the presidential government system, both the presidential election and the 28th-term parliamentary general election were held on the same day. According to the results announced by the Supreme Election Council (YSK), the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which received 35.6% of the votes and 268 deputies, finished ahead in the general election. All four parties of the People’s Alliance, with a total of 322 deputies, received 49.4% of the vote, outperforming the Nation Alliance by about 15 points. Thus, the will to represent the nation in Parliament until 2028 has been finalized.

After the presidential and parliamentarian elections held in Türkiye on May 14, Turkish and external observers analyzed the results to determine the winners or the losers. In this article, I will try to evaluate the winners of the elections.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who won the May 14 elections, built his second-round campaign around the inclusive motto of “Türkiye’s Great Victory.” In line with his "balcony" speech on election night, that campaign signals that the entire country – except terrorists – will win on Sunday. In truth, this is Erdoğan’s way of inviting the supporters of all parties to help build the "Century of Türkiye" over the next five years.

Sinan Oğan, who contested the presidential election as the ATA Alliance’s candidate, endorsed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ahead of Sunday’s second round. Rejecting allegations of a “deal” between himself and the incumbent, he insisted that he acted in line with his “principles” and highlighted the importance of “stability” with reference to the People’s Alliance’s parliamentary majority.

Türkiye successfully held a historic election in line with democratic maturity. Governments around the world watched closely as 88.92% of eligible voters participated in the election and Turkish democracy proved its strength yet again. In the end, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan beat his opponent, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, by almost 5 percentage points. Meanwhile, the People’s Alliance claimed 322 parliamentary seats – the majority – with 49.5%.

Tens of millions of Turks went to the polls and cast their votes last Sunday to choose the next president and the 600-seat Parliament. Over 30 political parties and five multiparty political coalitions (the People’s Alliance, the Nation Alliance, the ATA Alliance, the Labor and Freedom Alliance, and the Union of Socialist Forces Alliance) competed in the elections. At first, there were four official candidates, namely, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Sinan Oğan and Muharrem Ince. However, after the withdrawal of Ince, only three of them competed for the Presidency.

The election campaign has finally boiled down to a debate over the “real” nationalists. It is hardly surprising that nationalism, which has been on the rise globally since former U.S. President Donald Trump’s term, remains critically important in Türkiye – which continues to combat terrorists.

The goal, of course, is to come up with some policy suggestions, provide a fresh perspective and sift out a road map for the post-election period. After all, Türkiye is, indeed, treading a fine line between liberal and interventionist policies. Yet, it has not yet been able to fully benefit from political stability and the transformation into a presidential system.

Türkiye will hold both presidential and parliamentarian elections on Sunday. It is generally being shared that Türkiye is at a crossroads. All internal and external observers consider the elections as the most important elections in the whole world. That is, it is not only vital for the Turkish people but also important for the region and even for the world. The results of the Turkish elections will have significant implications for both national and international politics. Today, I want to take some notes on the Western perceptions of the coming elections.

The United States has shown a close and dangerous interest in Taiwan in recent years in order to break the power of China, with which it is in global competition in almost every field, and to confine China to the Indo-Pacific region. If the two great powers with nuclear weapons try to solve this problem with war, of course, it will lead the whole world to disaster. However, according to the Realist school in the International Relations literature, it is thought that these powers will not directly attempt war, based on the prediction that if a nuclear power attacks another nuclear power, both sides will be destroyed. Based on this thesis, we can say that the probability of a direct U.S.-China war is unlikely.

The Western media doubling down on its anti-Erdoğan campaign in the home stretch is hardly surprising. In addition to The Economist, which went well beyond endorsing the opposition candidate in Türkiye’s presidential race, publications like Foreign Policy, Le Point, L’Express, Der Spiegel and The Washington Post have been notably involved in the Turkish elections.

With Türkiye entering the final week of the 2023 election campaign, rhetorical battles have notably escalated. It would be wrong to reduce that development to peak polarization because what observers have called this year’s most important election remains critically important for the country’s future.

The tension in the Indo-Pacific region is escalating day by day due to steps adopted by the United States concerning the Taiwan issue. Washington aims to wear out China, with which it is engaged in global competition, and to besiege it in the Pacific. In light of the latest developments, which pose a high risk in terms of global security and stability, the possibility that the crisis may turn into a war has sparked fear. This has left many to wonder how European countries will react if China decides to attack Taiwan.