The polls have opened in Turkey for the second round of the presidential elections with citizens voting until 17:00 when the polls will close.

Polls and analysts, in any case, judge a defeat of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a rather unlikely scenario since the numbers are “relentless” and after the impressive 49.5%, only half a percentage point is needed to “cut the thread” and be re-elected president, managing to touch the ¼ century of rule.

The difference between Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu is estimated at two and a half million voters, while 2.8 million Turkish citizens voted for Ogan who finished third and had even allied with him.

In any case, the approximately 300,000 voters of Ince cannot significantly change the data, while otherwise there are eight million voters who stayed away from the first pre-election battle and for them there may be a question mark.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish parties, however, confirmed they would back the opposition presidential candidate in the second round of the election without naming him, a day after they expressed anger over his deal with a far-right party.

All this, of course, is happening at the same time that Turkish citizens have become complicit in an unprecedented “crescendo” of extreme rhetoric and the debates seem to be becoming more polarized than ever with the two rival leaders launching unprecedented accusations from each side and “crossing their swords”. in an effort to attract as many voters as they can.

Tayyip Erdoğan in his statements accused his political opponent of having relations with terrorists.

Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu accused him of cowardice, accusing him of trying to obstruct his election campaign, even blocking his text messages to journalists.

Kilicdaroglu through his personal twitter account also said that one of the first decrees he will pass, if elected, will be the broadcasting of matches on public television TRT without a subscription.

In any case, the vital stakes of this electoral battle are judged not only in terms of who will lead Turkey, but also in terms of how the country will be governed, where its economy will be headed and what form its foreign policy will take. .