A Personal Analysis of Economic Magazine’s Reporting on Elections in Turkiye by Behcet Kaya BA/Political Science/International Studies

According to Economic Magazine, the Washington Post and most of the U.S. media there will be three elections in June that will change the shape of the 21^st century.

Number one- Pakistan. There will be new elections in Pakistan due to the Imran Khan government being overthrown by the Pakistani military. Imran Khan leaned more toward independent policies and towards China (purchasing Chinese weapons) and Russia which caused conflicts with the U.S. Allegedly Washington ‘threatened’ Pakistan with ‘consequences’ if Khan was not ousted. This election is vitally important to Asia and Southeast Asia.

Number two- Nigeria. “At a time when democracy is increasingly under threat across the world, Nigeria’s 2023 elections are incredibly important. These elections will determine how Nigeria grapples with growing insecurity, economic headwinds, and an increasingly vocal citizenry, and if it emerges a more peaceful, prosperous, and democratic state.” This election undoubtedly will affect the entire continent of Africa.

Number three- Turkiye. The upcoming elections in Turkiye will affect the entire world. Why? Because the eyes of the world, primarily the EU, the U.S., Russia, and China, are all on Turkiye. In particular the U.S. does not want Erdogan to be reelected and therefore it is supporting mayor of Istanbul despite the fact that the opposition has not yet announced its candidate. They know that Erdogan controls the media in Turkiye and his cronies will destroy whoever the candidate is even before he gets started campaigning.

The U.S., the EU, and Iran are all viciously supporting Erdogan’s enemies while Russia is supporting Erdogan. In fact, the natural gas payment of 20 billion dollars due on March of 23 has been postponed as well as another payment due to Russia for the Akkuyu Nuclear plant the Russians are building for Turkiye. Both Erdogan and President Putin are stopping U.S. policies in Caucuses, Libya, and Europe.

The U.S. has tried many of its CIA tricks to coerce Turkiye away from Russia, including downing a Russian SU 57 fifth generation fighter. The CIA used a Fethullah Gulen member of Turkish F-16 pilots to down the fighter jet in Syria; clearly to keep Turkiye and Russia from closer cooperation. But a Russian think-tank and the academia are fully aware of who is doing what. Erdogan apologized to Putin for this incident and ended the conflict. Another incident involved a Feto policeman in Chanakya-Ankara who shot and killed a Russian ambassador. Even with this, the U.S. failed to incite war between Russia and Turkiye.

When Erdogan bought the Russian S-400 air defense system, the U.S. was infuriated. In return the U.S. removed Turkiye from the Joint Strike Force F-35 fighter jet projects.

The EU hates Erdogan as much as the U.S. They know they can’t trust Erdogan and his ability to release 3.5 million Syrian refugees into Europe.

According to the Economist Magazine, current surveys show Erdogan polling behind the opposition parties. The people of Turkiye believe that the Economist Magazine is powerful in international affairs and think it maddening that they are supporting the opposition parties.

The Economist Magazine is well known for writing controversial reports before important elections in other countries. The magazine recently wrote about the elections in both Brazil and in Italy. It emphasized that if Italian Prime Minister Melanie came to power that Italy may leave the EU.

But why is Turkiye so important? Primarily due to its geopolitical location. Anytime there is a conflict between Europe and Asia, Turkiye finds itself in the middle.

The west is also worried because Turkiye is no longer following U.S. orders. It follows its own foreign policy. Turkiye is currently in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Caucasus. In each of these regions it opposes U.S. policies. In addition, Erdogan strengthened Turkish armed forces by developing its own defense weapons without depending on the U.S.

Erdogan has a balanced foreign policy. Having been a NATO member for the seven decades and number two power in NATO, he did not follow U.S. and EU policies in Ukraine. Also, he did not support the embargo against Russia. Both the Russians and Ukrainians preferred Erdogan to broker a meeting in Istanbul in order to end the almost year-old war.

It is Erdogan’s policy to help both of these war-torn countries. He was successful in mediating with Russia and Ukraine (who supply 25% of the world’s grain) to allow grain to pass through the Bosporus to the rest of the world. Erdogan also succeeded in negotiating a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.

The U.S. and EU were hoping that Turkiye would support Ukraine and distance itself from Russia. They wanted very much to have the old Turkiye with EU and U.S., but it did not happen that way. In fact, it strengthened both the Turkish/Russian cooperation as well as Turkish/Ukrainian relations.

When Erdogan first came to power it was with the help of the U.S. Jewish influences. At first, he followed a foreign policy that was aligned with U.S. policy, i.e., light Muslim policy. But Erdogan changed that foreign policy due to the double standards of the U.S.

One prime example of the U.S. double standard was the overthrow of the democratically elected president of Egypt and the installation of the puppet, General Mursi. This was done in retaliation for the elected president of Egypt canceling an agreement with Israel and Greece and his turning towards Turkiye’s Erdogan.

Erdogan knew he was next and the fact that 2016 coup failed is the reason the U.S. could no longer control Erdogan.

The magazine also writes that Erdogan accuses the U.S. of supporting the PKK. How ridicules is this? It is known that the U.S. openly supports the PKK which attacks Turkiye. I question what kind of alliance is this between the U.S./Turkiye? The excuse the U.S. gives is that the PKK/YPG fights against Deash, which created by Mossad and CIA. In truth the U.S. does not hide its support for PKK. In fact, the U.S. wants to openly create a PKK proxy nation in Syria and it’s not hiding that goal.

The magazine is now accusing Erdogan of threatening Greece. The threats are a direct result of Greece provoking Turkiye in the Aegean Sea by declaring 10 miles of air space while holding only six miles of offshore waters. Greece is weaponizing the Aegean islands against Lozan agreement.

It accuses Turkiye threatening its neighbors. What is Turkiye supposed to do when the PKK/YPG fires rockets into Turkiye? Of course, it will return fire. This is just another example of the magazine writing untruths in order to spread bad news for Erdogan.

So is the fact that the magazine headlines include concerns about Erdogan’s power, his close friend's wealth, and the sociological influences of the Syrian war on Turkiye.

The magazine now is reporting that if Erdogan comes to power again the weak democracy in Turkiye will be totally eradicated and replaced with a dictatorial regime.

Is that true? No, of course not. The magazine does not analyze the entire political system in Turkiye. What is true is that in the last twenty years Erdogan has helped his country a great deal. He has been instrumental in developing the economy, increasing women’s’ rights, stopping generals from interfering in civilian politics, and cleaned out the Fetullah Gulen traitors and won.

Instead of reporting on the positives, it delves into more negatives including various lawsuits brought against Erdogan; most of them social media lawsuits. But once again the magazine does not analyze the details of the lawsuits. Lawsuits can go either way, but the magazine makes Erdogan look guilty in the eyes of public. They also speculated how Erdogan could use the central bank and print money to distribute to the necessary institutions for his election advantage. And finally, the fact that Erdogan controls the media, and justice system.

If he wins again, Erdogan will be establishing his Erdogan empire. Erdogan has won ten elections in the last twenty years. I believe that, although Erdogan is currently lagging behind in election surveys, these surveys are not dependable, and he will win again.

As Russia, the U.S., EU, China and the UK will all be watching the Turkish election closely, the Economist Magazine will continue doing nothing more than writing inflaming articles and waiting for Erdogan to lose the election.