Turkish election: Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu clash in desperate race for votes

The final hours of Turkey’s presidential race have turned more and more bitter as Recep Tayyip Erdogan bids to increase his 20 years in energy by 5 extra.

Forward of Sunday’s run-off vote, opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu has courted nationalist votes by vowing to expel tens of millions of Syrian refugees.

The president accused him of hate speech – and mentioned a Kilicdaroglu victory could be a win for terrorists.

The opposition candidate trailed within the first spherical by 2.5 million votes.

The president is favorite, however his rival believes the margin may nonetheless be bridged – both by the two.8 million supporters of an ultranationalist candidate who got here third or by the eight million voters who didn’t end up within the first spherical.

For 4 hours this week Mr Kilicdaroglu took viewers questions on a YouTube channel known as BaBaLa TV. The published has reached 24 million views by the newest depend and Turkey has a inhabitants of 85 million.

Youth campaigner Mehtep thinks the YouTube marathon may work: “Being on BaBaLa TV affected a lot of younger voters who did not vote first time round.”

She’s a member of the centre-right, nationalist Good social gathering, which has backed the opposition challenger and has the one feminine chief in Turkish politics in Meral Aksener.

The looks was a sensible transfer for a candidate attempting to beat his rival’s inbuilt benefit of controlling about 90% of Turkish media.

President Erdogan has not simply amassed sweeping powers prior to now six years – he has cracked down on dissent and political opponents have been thrown into jail.

Anticipating an Erdogan victory and additional financial instability, the monetary markets reacted with the Turkish lira hitting file lows in opposition to the greenback on Friday. Demand for overseas foreign money has surged and the central financial institution’s internet overseas foreign money reserves have slipped into adverse territory for the primary time since 2002.

That might be of little concern within the city of Bala, an hour’s drive to the south-east of Ankara.

Greater than 60% of voters backed President Erdogan there two weeks in the past, though all the principle events have places of work on the the excessive avenue.

Throughout the highway from the president’s social gathering headquarters, doner kebab store proprietor Al Ozdemir says he’ll vote for one more 5 years of Mr Erdogan.

However one other shopkeeper refused to inform the BBC who he supported as a result of he feared shedding Erdogan supporters as clients.

For months Turkey’s struggling economic system was the primary situation, however as Sunday’s run-off has drawn shut, the rhetoric has intensified and refugees are on the centre of it.

Gone is the unifying 74-year-old opposition chief together with his palms cupped into trademark heart-shape. As an alternative, he’s attempting to draw voters who backed ultranationalist chief Sinan Ogan two Sundays in the past.

Though the president received Mr Ogan’s backing, the opposition chief secured the help of the anti-immigrant Victory Get together, led by Umit Ozdag, whose social gathering received 1.2 million votes.

The Victory Get together chief mentioned this week Mr Kilicdaroglu had agreed to ship again “13 million migrants” inside a 12 months “in step with worldwide regulation”.

Turkey is internet hosting extra refugees than every other nation, however nowhere close to that many.

Prof Murat Erdogan (no relation to President Erdogan), who conducts a daily discipline examine known as Syrians Barometer, believes the entire variety of Syrian refugees and irregular migrants from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is nearer to 6 or seven million.

“Their discourse is just not sensible, bodily it is not possible,” says Prof Erdogan. “If we speak about [repatriating] voluntarily it is not possible, and by power it means per day greater than 50,000 ought to be despatched again.”

The rhetoric is disagreeable however it may make a distinction. As many as 85% of Turks need refugees from Syria’s civil warfare to go dwelling, opinion polls recommend.

Either side have nationalist events to maintain onside, says political scientist Nezih Onur Kuru from Koc college, and Mr Kilicdaroglu is tapping into safety issues felt by many citizens, particularly younger ones.

“He is aware of the extent of perceived threats is simply too excessive due to the immigrant disaster and terrorist assaults and wars involving Russia, Syria and Azerbaijan.”

President Erdogan says he’s already sending Syrian refugees again and plans to ship extra. His major accomplice is the far-right nationalist MHP.

And he has gone on the assault too, utilizing a manipulated video at a rally to hyperlink his rival to the Kurdish militant PKK, thought of a terror group within the West in addition to Turkey.

On Friday he mentioned a Kilicdaroglu victory meant that “terrorist organisations” would win.

His goal is the large pro-Kurdish HDP social gathering, which backs Mr Kilicdaroglu and which President Erdogan has repeatedly sought to establish with the PKK militants. The HDP denies any such hyperlinks.

The HDP, for now, backs Mr Kilicdaroglu as a result of it desires an finish to Turkey’s “one-man regime”. Nevertheless it has real issues about his alliance with a far-right nationalist.

Initially it was thought that President Erdogan might be defeated due to his disastrous dealing with of Turkey’s economic system and his poor response to February’s earthquakes.

And but virtually half of voters backed him. The query is whether or not Mr Kilicdaroglu’s change of tack will work.

“I needed a change, all my clients needed a change,” says Songul in her hen restaurant in Bala.

However finally she says they’re all sticking with the president as a result of they don’t belief his reverse quantity: “I will vote for Erdogan as there isn’t any different.”