It is easy to look at the prompter and speak.
Ekrem Imamoglu was elected as the new metropolitan mayor of Istanbul according to the unofficial results by winning by a landslide of nearly 800.000 more votes.
Round the tape back and ask yourself this:
Who would want to return back to the evening of 31 March now?
I can hear you saying out loud: “AKP (Justice and Development Party) and Erdogan”
**
Imamoglu and his team were sure about the victory.
Barbaros Sansal had said, “Everything has already been great” during a broadcast on MoonStar TV last month.
Erdogan and his team have seen the defeat on the way to the elections.
That was why Erdogan backpedaled about not holding a public demonstration and took the field when there were only a few days left for the elections.
He said, “You told me to “stay behind”. We have seen you too. I am taking the field.”
He disregarded his own political victimization by stating, “His mayorship will be dismissed, just like mine did.”
What else could he say?
He literally pointed out that just like they had locked him up before, he implied that he will lock him up this time.
Could not cut the mustard.
**
Just like the ones who had been mistaken about Erdogan whether he would embrace the law and democracy again on the night of 31 March…
Now they shall be mistaken again.
Erdogan’s story on the home stretch is just like one the movie “Speed (1994)” starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.
When the bus accelerates over 50 miles of speed, it cannot go down below again.
If it does, it goes up in smoke together with everybody inside.
**
CHP’s (Republican People’s Party) Istanbul organization was at ease.
Canan Kaftancioglu followed the elections in her “headquarters” since she has already taken precautions in the field and took a lesson from 31 March.
Ekrem Imamoglu was apparently ready beforehand and he made his victory speech by reading from a written text.
His statement was as good as a balcony speech: “This election was not won by a single person, a party, a group, or a mass; all Istanbulites and all of Turkey won. I will work without excluding anybody.”
**
The election was turned into a vote of confidence for Erdogan and AKP.
It was already more than just a “municipal election”.
Erdogan lost.
There will be political consequences.
Erdogan is not going to find a new method.
Over his media…
– He will try to wear down the majors of Istanbul and Ankara.
– His jurisdiction will lurk.
– When it is time, he will put in place methods like appointing trustees.
**
It is a myth about what Erdogan, who had accepted defeat on the night of 31 March…
Will do to his team who had made him cancel the elections by taking advantage of him.
That team will not stand idle.
**
Erdogan, who said “The one who loses Istanbul will lose Turkey”, lost confidence.
His relationships with the known coalition partners, primarily the opposition, will be more complicated now.
Holding together his party too…
**
Political uncertainties, as befits the name, are uncertainties.
But the economic collapse is a certainty.
Nazim Hikmet’s following verse is everybody’s favorite nowadays: “We will see beautiful days, children. we will see sunny
But still…
The spring is not yet here.
The era is for the proverb: “Ne’er cast a clout till May be out.”
Tarik Toros is a journalist based in London. He is the former executive director of Turkish Channel Turk.
Turkish version of this article appeared at TR/724.com
