The elections in Turkey continue to preoccupy, as has been the case for weeks, the entirety of the German media, which spoke of a “historic” showdown. After the voting is over, the German press tries to record the developments and interpret the situation. Analysts in Germany are warning of the risk of “chaos” with the results.

“Huge controversy with prime numbers! Erdogan or Kilicdaroglu?” With this title the tabloid Bild referred to the confused situation after the announcement of the first results. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung pointed out that “the presidential election in Turkey is developing into a war of nerves” and that “in previous elections Anadolu Agency was accused of initially broadcasting selective data from AKP strongholds in order to prematurely present the president as the winner, while the final results were much lower.”

“One thing is clear: Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not win the presidential election. It was even reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency, whose figures are disputed by the opposition,” Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.

“War of nerves for power” was also seen by Der Spiegel magazine, which described the progress of the count as “an unbearable thriller for the 84 million Turks”. “Much had been said before this Sunday about the fateful election that awaited the country, about the lopsided race between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the most lopsided since Erdogan took office 20 years ago.”

The private news station n-tv in its report from Turkey notes that the election campaign “took place in a tense atmosphere and was considered unfair, mainly due to the superior power of the government’s media (…) Erdogan promised, among other things, a salary increase of civil servants and additional investments in the defense industry. He ran an aggressive campaign, calling the opposition ‘terrorists’.”

In the report of the first channel of the German public television, it is noted that President Erdogan “has more power than ever” and can largely govern without the parliament. His critics “fear the country could slide into totalitarianism if he wins again. The vote is closely watched internationally.”

The RND network points out that “observers see the election as perhaps Turkey’s most important decision since the establishment of the Turkish republic 100 years ago. The 69-year-old Erdogan has ruled the country in an increasingly authoritarian manner in recent years (…) and, for the first time since 2003, is feeling a strong headwind (…) The election campaign was extremely polarized, marred by violence and hate speech”.