The mood on the ground in Istanbul, a metropolis of about 15 million people straddling two continents, has been one of tense anticipation.
Queues snaked into schools and orphanages that doubled up as polling stations. Young and old poured in, as did the disabled who were sometimes carried up several flights. The ill were shuttled in by ambulances, arriving at voting booths on stretchers.
“For this election, I traveled nearly 10,000 miles from San Francisco,” said 78-year-old Turkish-American Habibe Husain. It was the first time Husain voted in a Turkish election.
For me the most important issue is that the person who will win unifies the country,” she said. “This is probably the last chance I have to vote in a Turkish election while I’m alive.”
Voters spoke of the fate of their country hanging in the balance. Turkey’s strongman leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is battling for a historic third term while facing economic headwinds and criticism over the February 6 earthquake, which was made worse by lax building controls and an initial shambolic rescue effort.
His critics depict the race as a last stand for democracy. Erdogan has hollowed out democratic institutions, they argue, eroding the independence of the judiciary and introducing draconian measures against dissent.
We all missed democracy,” his principal opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu said in a speech shortly before polls closed on Sunday. “We all missed being united. We all missed embracing each other. You will see, hopefully the spring will come to this country and will last. I offer my love and respect to all of you.”
Erdogan’s largely conservative base argues that only the current president can fix the shambles left in the wake of the country’s economic crisis and disastrous earthquake.
“I trust Tayyip Erdogan. That’s why I’ve always voted him and always will,” said Riza Saraciya, 46. “He does everything he says he’s going to do.”
For others, this is more than an election. It’s a battle for the soul of the nation. “I’d rather go hungry than lose my freedom,” said 70-year-old Mostafa Kocagil. “I want justice and freedom. That’s why I’m voting.”
One woman said the earthquake was the final straw, that Erdogan’s rule had affected “everything she touched.” Yelez Sahin lost her brother and son at a luxury apartment building that collapsed in Hatay, Turkey’s southernmost province. “It’s the system that needs to change,” she said.
