{"id":1064248,"date":"2023-05-31T15:22:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T15:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therealnews.com\/?p=298536"},"modified":"2023-05-31T15:22:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T15:22:23","slug":"turkeys-marginalized-deeply-afraid-as-erdogan-wins-presidential-runoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/05\/31\/turkeys-marginalized-deeply-afraid-as-erdogan-wins-presidential-runoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey\u2019s marginalized \u2018deeply afraid\u2019 as Erdo\u011fan wins presidential runoff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on May 29, 202<\/a>3. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan at home<\/a> and abroad<\/a> celebrated his win of Sunday’s runoff election, human rights defenders and marginalized people including Kurds and LGBTQ+ activists voiced deep fears about how their lives will be adversely affected during the increasingly authoritarian leader’s third term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey’s Supreme Election Council confirmed Erdo\u011fan’s victory over Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu on Sunday evening. Erdo\u011fan, the 69-year-old leader of the right-wing Justice and Development Party who has ruled the nation of 85 million people since 2014 and dominated its politics for two decades, won 52.18% of the vote. K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu, a 74-year-old social democrat who leads the left-of-center Republican People’s Party, received 47.82%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erdo\u011fan\u2014who was seen handing out cash<\/a> to supporters at a polling station in an apparent violation of Turkish election law\u2014mocked his opponent’s loss outside the president’s home in Istanbul, saying, “Bye, bye, bye, Kemal” as the winner’s supporters booed, according to <\/a>Al Jazeera<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Instead of congratulating Erdogan, EU leaders should ask about the backsliding democratic and human rights.

Turkey is already 103rd of 167 countries on democracy index, and we know Erdogan wants to take it further down… https:\/\/t.co\/AMSgP19YBG<\/a><\/p>— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) May 29, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>