By Antonis Anzoletou

In less than a month, the presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in Turkey, and according to major news media and experienced analysts, they are the most critical in recent years. Almost everyone predicts that the second round, on May 28, will decide the future of the country. The required 50%+1 seems, according to the surveys, not to be an easy task for the two contenders for power. Tayyip Erdogan’s 20-year absolute rule is threatened by the alliance led by Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The most suspicious do not rule out that the Turkish president has already planned the “bad” scenario for him.

Its Kemalist leader Republican People’s Party (CHP) to win and constitute a brief interlude in power. With the economy in dire straits, deficits huge, Central Bank reserves empty, the people suffering from massive inflation, and the Antioch region having to be rebuilt from scratch, Kilicdaroglu will take into his hands a ” hot potato”. How long will he be able to last? And if he makes good on his promise and changes the regime, as Erdogan has promised, he will not miss the opportunity to push for early elections. The percentage it holds, which is close to 35%, is “concrete” and constitutes its basis.

However, Erdogan and the AKP seem to be recovering in the polls as the country approaches the polls. Now it also promises free natural gas up to 25 cubic meters. In the last two weeks, he chose to raise his voice against Greece and “awaken” the nationalist instincts of his compatriots. One of the strong “cards” of the Turkish president is still the country’s footprint abroad. It has turned into a regulator of developments in the wider region. It can often “squat” and open many difficult fronts at the same time, however, by general admission, the country’s diplomatic image has changed in the last two decades.

His alliance Kilicdaroglu it may have a distinctly more pro-Western profile, but since Turkish foreign policy has continuity no one is hoping for a miracle. Revisionist narratives have been heard from the opposition as alarmingly as Tayyip Erdogan’s. The current president highlights the need for stability provided by his own one-party government, but also the goal of consolidating Turkey as the largest regional power in the region.

Inside Turkey, the situation is boiling. New fire against him Tayyip Erdogan fired Kemal Kilicdaroglu, accusing him of deliberately associating the Kurds with terrorism. The current president is trying to put Kilicdaroglu in an electoral dilemma by favoring the descent of Muharem Ince in the elections. According to a new MAK poll, although Kilicdaroglu leads the Turkish president by a significant margin, Ince, who comes from within his Republican People’s Party, “steals” votes preventing his election from the first round. Kilicdaroglu leads with 47.8%, followed by the current president with 43.4% and Ince with 3.4%.