“ Chronicle Of A Victory Foretold”
On Sunday, June 24, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) won both the presidential and the parliamentary elections. The elections were conducted in extraordinary circumstances. Hundreds of journalists are in prison, as are thousands of political opponents — including the leader of one of the main Opposition parties, Selahattin Demirtaş. The state-run media did not care to be neutral. Most state institutions, including the electoral commission, put themselves forward as the champions for Mr. Erdoğan’s re-election. But while Mr. Erdoğan and the AKP certainly won the vote — including the presidential election by the first round — he will have a hard time winning legitimacy for this victory. The state-run news outlet, Anadolu Agency, first announced that Mr. Erdoğan had won 70% of the votes in the presidential contest. Then, they adjusted the percentage downwards to 59% and eventually to 52%. The initial number was crucial. It created the sense of overwhelming triumph for Mr. Erdoğan. His margin of victory was slim, and even slimmer if we acknowledge that 11% of his party alliance’s overall support of 53% in the Parliament came from the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Without the MHP behind him in the presidential contest, Mr. Erdoğan may have been forced into a run-off against the standard bearer of the old national guard, Muharrem İnce of the Republican People’s Party (CHP). But the fact of the matter is that in the end Mr. Erdoğan took more than half the vote. He was able to win votes in both his rural strongholds and in the urban areas. The way he positions himself is crucial — as a Turkish nationalist, including a protector of Turkish business interests, and as a Sunni internationalist. He remains able to mop up the votes of the Anatolian business communities of different sizes and of the pious electorate. It helped that he was in alliance with the MHP, the near-fascist bloc although it is startling to realise that in this election the Turkish people supported another right-wing party, the İYİ or Good Party.
The Good Party is led by Meral Akşener, a former Minister of the Interior with a controversial background in the deep state. It was even more remarkably in alliance with the CHP. None of this mattered to Mr. Erdoğan’s steamroller effect. He swept up his core votes and managed to go past the margin with the help of his own tethered far right-wing allies. Mr. Erdoğan had called for elections a year before they were due. This was a clever political move. Undercurrents suggest that the Turkish economy will implode before the year is over. It would have been perilous for him to go to the people in the midst of a full-blown crisis. Careful monetary policy has put off the crisis. It is what gave him the opportunity to establish his political authority before he tackles the economic weakness of Turkey. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, new money was created to break the unavailability of credit.
WORDS AND MEANINGS –
1) Legitimacy
Meaning: Conformity to the law or to rules.
Example: “Refusal to recognize the legitimacy of both governments”
2) Crucial
Meaning: Decisive or critical, especially in the success or failure of something.
Example: “Negotiations were at a crucial stage”
Synonyms: Pivotal, Critical
Antonyms: Minor
3) Overwhelming
Meaning: Have a strong emotional effect on.
Example: “I was overwhelmed with guilt”
Synonyms: Overcome, Move
4) Slimmer
Meaning: (Of something abstract, especially a chance or margin) very small.
Example: “There was just a slim chance of success”
Synonyms: Slight, Small
Antonyms: Good, Strong
5) Alliance
Meaning: A union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations.
Example: “A defensive alliance between Australia and New Zealand”
Synonyms: Association, Union
6) Run-off
Meaning: A further competition, election, race, etc., after a tie or inconclusive result.
Example: “He won only 49 per cent of the vote, so a run-off will be held”
7) Bearer
Meaning: A person who presents a cheque or other order to pay money.
Example: “Promissory notes payable to the bearer”
Synonyms: Holder, Possessor
8) Strongholds
Meaning: A place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld.
Example: “The seat appeared to be an impregnable Tory stronghold”
Synonyms: Bastion, Centre
9) Mop up
Meaning: The activity of dealing with a small number of people, problems, etc. that remain after most of them have been defeated or solved.
Example: “The war was effectively over, although skirmishing and mopping-up went on for some time”
10) Pious
Meaning:Making or constituting a hypocritical display of virtue.
Example:”His pious platitudes”
Synonyms: Insincere, Self-righteous
Antonyms: Sincere
11) Bloc
Meaning:A group of countries or political parties with common interests who have formed an alliance.
Example: “The Soviet bloc”
Synonyms: Alliance, Association
12) Startling
Meaning:Very surprising, astonishing, or remarkable.
Example: “He bore a startling likeness to their father”
Synonyms: Surprising, Astonishing
Antonyms: Predictable, Ordinary
13) Controversial
Meaning: Giving rise or likely to give rise to controversy or public disagreement.
Example: “Years of wrangling over a controversial bypass”
Synonyms: Contentious, Moot
Antonyms: Uncontroversial, Anodyne
14) Remarkably
Meaning: In a way that is worthy of attention.
Example: “You have performed remarkably”
15) Steamroller
Meaning:(Of a government or other authority) forcibly pass (a measure) by restricting debate or otherwise overriding opposition.
Example: “The government’s trying to steamroller a law through”
16) Swept up
Meaning: To win some set of competitive events completely and decisively.
Example: He swept up the running events and won four medals.
17) Tethered
Meaning: Tie (an animal) with a rope or chain so as to restrict its movement.
Example: “The horse had been tethered to a post”
Synonyms: Tie, Hitch
Antonyms: Unleash, Release
18) Undercurrents
Meaning: An underlying feeling or influence, especially one that is contrary to the prevailing atmosphere and is not expressed openly.
Example: “Racial undercurrents”
Synonyms: Undertone, Overtone
19) Implode
Meaning: Collapse or cause to collapse violently inwards.
Example: “Both the windows had imploded”
20) Perilous
Meaning: Full of danger or risk.
Example: “A perilous journey south”
Synonyms: Dangerous, Risky
Antonyms: Safe, secure
21) Midst
Meaning: The middle part or point.
Example: “He left his flat in the midst of a rainstorm”
Synonyms: Middle, Centre
22) Full-blown
Meaning: Fully developed.
Example: “The onset of full-blown AIDS in persons infected with HIV”
Synonyms: Complete, Advanced
Antonyms: Partial
23) Tackles
Meaning: Make determined efforts to deal with (a problem or difficult task).
Example: “Police have launched an initiative to tackle rising crime”
Synonyms: Address, Approach
24) Aftermath
Meaning: The consequences or after-effects of a significant unpleasant event.
Example: “Food prices soared in the aftermath of the drought”
Synonyms: Fallout, Trail
