10 August, to Doğubayazit by bus from Kars
Öğretmenevi 72TL

Election day in Turkey*. Though we have seen campaign posters in towns and cities (fewer than we expected), there was little sign of queuing voters from the windows of the two buses that brought us back to Doğubayazit. On board we met a young Italian couple, both mathematicians, in Turkey to climb Ağri Daği (Mount Ararat).

* Wikipedia: “Presidential elections were held on 10 August 2014 in order to elect the 12th President of Turkey. Incumbent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected outright with a simple majority of the vote in the first round, making a scheduled run-off for 24 August unnecessary.

The election took place under reforms resulting from the 2007 constitutional referendum, which introduced a direct national vote, rather than election by members of the parliament. Over 55 million people were eligible to vote, both within Turkey and abroad.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, leader of the AKP, first elected Prime Minister in 2002, won with 51.79% of the vote. Former Organisation of Islamic Cooperation General Secretary Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, who ran as the joint candidate of 13 opposition parties including the Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), came second with 38.44%. The co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş, who received the backing of 8 left-wing parties, came third with 9.76%.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took over over as President from Abdullah Gül on 28 August, while Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was elected leader of the AKP, succeeded Erdoğan as Prime Minister on the same date. It has been speculated that Erdoğan will continue to pursue his political agenda as president while Davutoğlu takes a docile approach as Prime Minister, breaking away from the ceremonial and neutral functions of the Presidency and potentially pursuing constitutional changes to turn Turkey into a presidential or semi-presidential system.

The election was criticised by both the political opposition and international observers for alleged media bias in favour of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, corruption allegations, the inaccuracy of opinion polls and the misuse of official public resources during Erdoğan's campaign. While praising the authorities for safeguarding the right to assembly as well as the peaceful electoral conduct, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) voiced concerns over the unequal distribution of campaign resources and media intimidation. The historic 12-year low turnout of 74.13%, attributed to the fact that the election was held in summer while many citizens were on holiday, was seen by many politicians such as MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli as a significant factor in affecting the outcome. The election loss for the opposition CHP resulted in its leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu taking the decision to hold a party convention with a leadership election in response to growing dissatisfaction against his electoral performance.”

Mount Ararat (Ağri Daği)

Mount Ararat (Ağri Daği)

Mount Ararat (Ağri Daği)

Presidential election (Van)

Presidential election (Kars)