Many of the speeches of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the incumbent president and one of the candidates running in the June 24 election, are dominated by Islamic rhetoric, such as reciting the Quran, accounts from the Prophet Mohammed’s life, and topics that could invoke religious sentiments such as the Palestinian question.
Erdogan has even accused the Republican People’s Party (CHP), his main rival, of having a “destructive mentality” towards the faith.
“Turkey is changing and the world is changing but the CHP mentality does not change. If they find a mosque, they will destroy it. If they find a factory, they will destroy it … We will respond to these people by maintaining our projects and investment,” Erdogan said during a rally in Erzurum on Saturday.
The next day, Muharrem Ince, the CHP’s candidate for the presidency, said he was “offended” by Erdogan’s accusation.
“I am offended by something. I call on those brothers who vote for AKP … Erdogan is saying: ‘They will destroy mosques.’ Look. This is a political arena. Mosques should not be discussed in the political arena. I have a question. I am calling on those who vote for AKP. Do you like this kind of behavior?” he told his supporters in Izmir.
Ince told the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper on Sunday he never leaves home without washing for prayers and reciting from the Quran before his rallies.
“I have my own belief. I do not go into the streets without an ablution. I do not begin any rally without reciting the Kursi verse. This is my faith. Everyone is free to like or dislike it.”
In an interview with Cumhuriyet newspaper, his spouse Ulku Ince claimed her husband has been “pious” since they first met, “but he has never shown this” in public.
Turkey will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24. However, all eyes are on the presidential election, because much depends on who assumes office. If Erdogan wins, the political system will be switched from a parliamentary model to a presidential one. If his rivals win, they may maintain the parliamentary system and even strip away some presidential powers.
Meral Aksener is the head of the IYI (Good) Party and a presidential candidate for her party. She is known for her religious background. She was a minister in the AKP government before forming her own party in 2017.
She tweeted on January 17 she “is the daughter of a pious family.”
“Frankly speaking, I am the daughter of a religious family. I am someone who is pious and tries to do her religious duties.”
Her campaign speeches are also replete with Islamic remarks though not to the same extent as Erdogan’s. She is careful not to alienate her nonreligious supporters.
Temel Karamollaoglu, head of the Saadet (Felicity) Party, and Dogu Perincek, head of the Vatan (Patriotic) Party, are also running for the presidency. Karamollaoglu holds strong Islamic beliefs and is expected to take some conservative votes from the AKP, while Perincek seems to prefer a nationalist tone.
The only Kurdish candidate in the race is Selahattin Demirtas, the former chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), who is in jail over terrorism charges. He has been more secular than his rivals and chosen a path that could appeal to the traditional Kurdish population as well as secularists.
“Dear Muslims, Sunni and pious citizens: No to both the banning of the headscarf and the current Islamism. Little time is left to gain freedom of belief and worship,” tweeted Demirtas on May 4.
Bound to his cell, he is forced to run his election campaign on Twitter. His lawyers tweet his messages via a personal Twitter account.
Mamand Roje of Rudaw Research Center believes the AKP has been successful in using Islam as a paradigm, forcing other parties to buy in to religious rhetoric as well.
“But the June 24 elections are not like the previous ones … because there are other factors at play. The economy is a very big factor,” Roje told Rudaw English.
He believes Turkish parties are fighting over the country’s conservative population.
Roje says the Kurds of the Hanafi school of thought have sided with the AKP in the past while the Alevi Kurds have thrown their support behind the HDP and CHP.
The candidates may be many and the parties may vary widely, but their messages are similar and directed at the same traditional Muslim demographic that could propel them to power.
