Presidential and legislative elections in Turkey will be held on May 14, after the holy month of Ramadan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday in reference to the electoral triumph of the (conservative) Democratic Party in 1950.
Without clearly announcing election day, the head of state hinted that it would be held “73 years” after the victory of the (conservative) Democratic Party in 1950.
“Our nation will address its response to the Table of Six (opposition platform, editor’s note) the same day as 73 years ago,” he said before a meeting of elected officials from his party, the AKP. .
Ramadan and the fast it imposes on believers will be held this year from March 23 to April 21.
The AKP, Justice and Development Party has been in power since 2002.
Mr. Erdogan, candidate for his own succession, became prime minister in 2003, before modifying the Constitution and becoming “President”, directly elected by universal suffrage, in 2014.
The opposition has announced its intention to return to a parliamentary regime in the event of victory.
The Democratic Party founded in 1946 by Adnan Menderes and his supporters, dissidents of the party of Mustafa Kemal “Atatürk”, father of modern Turkey, had postponed the elections on May 14, 1950 before being overthrown ten years later by a coup d military state, then dissolved.
Mr. Erdogan has often compared himself to Adnan Menderes and thus sends a signal to the conservative fringe of the electorate.
The Table of Six is an electoral alliance of six opposition parties, including the main one, the CHP (heir of Mustafa Kemal).
Only the HDP (left-democratic, pro-Kurdish), the third parliamentary force, did not join this alliance.