Aksener, 61, rejects reconciliation with the Kurds and doesn’t like the presence of so many Syrian refugees in Turkey. Her supporters, like those of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, come from the nationalist, conservative and religious communities. But she also rejects the omnipotent presidential regime that Erdogan has entrenched with constitutional amendments barely approved in the April 2017 referendum. [...]
Publicly, Erdogan treats Aksener as a nuisance who poses no real threat. At first, the five parliament members who left the Nationalist Movement Party with her couldn’t run in the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections, which have been moved up a year and a half. Under Turkish law, a party must have at least 20 legislators to run, or branches in at least half the country’s provinces. Aksener’s party hadn’t fulfilled these conditions, but opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaraulo “donated” 15 lawmakers who quit his party to join Aksener’s, letting her contend in the elections. [...]
Still, to topple Erdogan, his opponents have been impressive in their willingness to concede parts of their ideology and join activists and leaders with different principles. Turkey hasn’t seen such a coalition for a long time. But even if they succeed, Turkey will plunge into intense wrangling over political and economic issues that would threaten the government’s stability.
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