Eastern locomotive of democracy Türkiye's May exam

The May 14 general elections in Türkiye drew worldwide attention. They were closely watched in the neighbouring South Caucasus region, particularly in fraternal Azerbaijan. So last Sunday [May 14] reminded us of an action movie - every half hour, social media users eagerly read from their screens changes in the number of votes scored by the two undisputed leaders of the presidential race - incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Justice and Development Party) and Kemal Kilicdaroglu (Republican People's Party), who aspired to the coveted 50 per cent plus one vote.

It became clear late at night that neither of the race's two leaders could break through the 50 per cent barrier. Erdogan received 49.5 per cent of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu received 44.8 per cent, delaying the country's historic choice for another two weeks. The second round, which will determine the winner, will be held on May 28.

The third candidate Sinan Ogan (non-partisan, ATA Alliance) won 5 per cent of the votes and two candidates who advanced to the second round will now compete for them. Among the other ways the two leaders will compete will be calls for their passive supporters to finally vote, as well as campaign events for each of the candidates in areas that voted primarily for the opponent.

The ruling coalition won 320 out of 600 parliamentary seats in the elections to parliament - the Grand National Assembly.

When reviewing both the process and the results of the first round of elections, the first thing that comes to mind is their undeniable transparency. Despite the Western media and political establishment's long-standing hostility toward the incumbent president, accusing him of authoritarian and even dictatorial methods of government, it was nearly impossible to find fault with the main indicator of the democratic process - the elections were held in an absolutely democratic environment. And it turns out that some sort of "dictator" is very strange and generally incorrect - he couldn't get an extra percentage of votes for himself. Allowing the elections to go to the second round, where the chances of winning are not much better than in the first, is a huge risk for a true autocrat. Would a despot or dictator do something like this? And, in general, did anything guarantee that the opposing representative would not win in the first round? How could Erdogan have missed all of this, and why did he let things play out as they did? But these are primarily directed at those who have relentlessly vilified Türkiye's current government. Let them answer, and we will be happy to listen.

We've already mentioned the West, and we'll come back to it later, but the second thing that makes us respect Turks is their extremely high voter turnout, 88.8 per cent of those eligible to vote, and their extremely tolerant attitude, regardless of their sympathies for one or another candidate, thanks to which there were no incidents (except for a few very minor skirmishes). And this is happening at such a rapid pace, not to mention the notorious Turkish temperament. That is, Turkish society has demonstrated a high level of civic responsibility and electoral culture, indicating the country's high level of democracy.

But what do the Europeans still say? The elections were observed by 400 representatives of the ODIHR [Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights], OSCE PA, and PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe]. "The elections in Türkiye are recognized as well-organized, democratic and demonstrating pluralism," the PACE monitoring group said in a report. "But at the same time they showed the need to improve fundamental freedoms," the Europeans add a fly in the ointment, without which, apparently, the authorities would consider their work unfulfilled. Of course – after all, Erdogan's alliance won a majority in parliament. Well, it's impossible to just take and swallow this bitter pill.

And, of course, some representatives of the Armenian community of Türkiye hastened to complain about the election results. However, unlike the EU envoys, there are no complaints about violations.

"The alliance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, formed with nationalists and extremists, managed to win the parliamentary elections on May 14, and it will have a parliamentary majority. This means that Türkiye will become more nationalistic in the near future, and it will be more difficult for nationalistic Türkiye to regulate relations with Armenia," said Karo Paylan, an ethnic Armenian and a deputy of the 27th convocation of the Turkish Grand Assembly. The parliamentarian who served in the previous term before the elections believes that the election results did not meet the expectations of Türkiye's Armenian community.

Two nuances stand out in the Armenian's reaction. To begin, he labels the ruling coalition as nationalists and extremists. If the Nationalist Movement Party is, as the name implies, nationalist, Paylan appears to have enrolled members of the Justice and Development Party as extremists, shamelessly employing Western philistine patterns of perception of any forces of the Islamic spectrum. The Justice and Development Party, as you are aware, is a moderately Islamist organization. The second nuance is a complete refusal to face the truth: Ankara has repeatedly stated that relations with Yerevan can be resolved if Armenia finally relinquishes territorial claims to Azerbaijan. By the way, even the pro-Western Turkish ruling elites have demonstrated a similar approach to normalising relations with Armenia. Under the rule of [Turkish academic, economist, and politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Türkiye from 1993 to 1996] Tansu Chiller, for example, and not just conservative forces. Needless to say, such shifting from a sick head to a healthy one does not contribute in any way to the real settlement of difficult relationships.

Perhaps former MP Paylan will be curious to know that according to the list of the Justice and Development Party (that is, those whom he calls extremists), an ethnic Armenian doctor Sevan Sevacoglu has been elected to the Turkish parliament. He is not just a person with Armenian roots, but also an active participant in the Armenian community of Istanbul. The fact that there are people among the Armenians of Türkiye who do not succumb to the frenzied Armenian-European propaganda and support Erdogan, on the one hand, testifies to the deep democracy of his policy, and on the other, inspires hope for the possibility of a comprehensive dialogue between the governments of Türkiye and Armenia on a fair trial of sensitive issues, especially the events of 1915.

There is no doubt that the current election process in Türkiye has further enhanced the image of this country, which is by no means important in the conditions of war in Eastern Europe and against the background of the ongoing breakdown of the world security system.

Of course, Türkiye is a key geopolitical partner for Azerbaijan. This became a reality thanks to both the policy of the national leader and the successor of his cause, Ilham Aliyev, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who noticeably accelerated this process on the Turkish side. It is not surprising that the sympathies of the majority of Azerbaijanis remain on the side of this outstanding political figure. At the same time, Azerbaijanis will respectfully accept any choice of the fraternal Turkish people in the second round. Moreover, it will be held on a significant date for the Turkic world - the Day of the formation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the world's first Turkic republic.