Turkey goes to polls in election that could change constitution

Turkish voters are set to cast their ballots in one of the least predictable and most significant elections the country has held in decades. A significant majority for the ruling AKP party could allow President Tayyip Erdogan (pictured) to push through a constitutional revolution - transferring significant executive powers from the parliament to the presidential palace. But his plans may yet be curbed by the growing support for a new party on the political scene. The HDP, or People’s Democratic Party, has gone from being a Kurdish faction to a mainstream political movement, appealing to more secular, liberal Turks who fear Mr Erdogan’s increasingly autocratic ambitions.

They say ‘If Erdogan gets what he wants on Sunday he will be unstoppable’. They actually mean Turkey will be unstoppable.

President Tayyip Erdogan, speaking to a rally in the northeastern province of Ardahan

If the party is able to cross the 10% vote threshold required to take seats in the parliament, it could upset the AKP’s efforts to get the majority necessary to force through its constitutional reforms. The emergence of the HDP as a force has resulted in harsh rhetoric from the AKP’s campaign, implying the party is linked to the outlawed PKK Kurdish militant group, which has been engaged in peace talks with the Ankara government for more than two years. On Friday, two people were killed and more than 200 injured as a result of bombings during an HDP rally in the largely Kurdish city of Diyarbakir. Mr Erdogan condemned the bombings as “provocation” aimed at undermining the election, but HDP supporters expressed their anger towards him in marches on Saturday to mourn the victims. Latest polling suggests the voting margins are tight.

Either the stability of the last 12 years will continue, or there will be the crisis scenario of those who want to take Turkey back to the chaos and crisis atmosphere of the 1990s.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

Politics erdogan