Levent Kenez
Nordic Monitor, Apr. 3, 2024
“With government support Erbakan significantly expanded his outreach to a larger audience in Turkey by making frequent appearances on national television, openly propagating his antisemitic views on live TV.”
Fatih Erbakan, a former political ally of the Turkish president and a notorious, antisemitic politician, attributed the government’s poor performance in local elections on Sunday to Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s NATO membership and its failure to impose a trade embargo on Israel.
In the May 2023 elections, Erbakan, leader of the Islamist New Welfare Party (YRP), entered into an alliance with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and supported Erdogan in the presidential election. In return the YRP gained five parliamentary seats and secured promises for various policy changes.
The two leaders failed to forge a new alliance before the local elections on March 31. Tensions arose when the AKP refused to accept the YRP’s demand for mayoral positions in several districts of Istanbul, leading his party to run as independents in the elections. Erdogan was angered by the YRP’s decision to nominate as mayoral candidates some politicians who had split from the AKP. Erbakan accused Erdogan of continuing trade relations with Israel despite the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza.
A week before the elections, Erbakan announced that support for Erdoğan would be forthcoming if the government increased pensions, halted trade with Israel and closed the Kürecik Radar Station, a NATO facility situated in the southeastern province of Malatya. This statement can be seen not just as an offer, but also as a political maneuver.
… [To read the full article, click here]
________________________________________________________
