Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the political giant with a cane

On June 24, Turkish citizens voted in presidential and parliamentary snap elections, with a huge turnout.

• Authors:
• The Conversation

As expected, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected president while his Islamo-nationalist bloc allies – the Justice and Development Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – obtained a parliamentary majority.

While both victories were won by narrow margins, Erdoğan took 52.5% of the vote, coming out well ahead of his opponents.

The main opposition candidate, Muharrem İnce, obtained 31%, followed by the leader of new centrist party, Meral Akşener, with 7.3%, and pro-Kurdish leftist leader Selahattin Demirtaş, who received 8.4%.

Erdoğan thus consolidated…

• Recep Tayyip Erdoğan…