Victims of the Turkiye earthquake rally with Erdogan ahead of the runoff election

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gazes down from a campaign poster at Antakya's earthquake ruins, instilling hope in Ahmet Gulyildizoglu ahead of Sunday's election runoff.

Millions of people across the devastated area defied expectations and voted for the man who has controlled Turkiye for two decades, falling just short of a fifth five-year term on May 14.

Erdogan's secular competitor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, "does not fill you with hope," Gulyildizoglu remarked in front of the wreckage of his six-story apartment complex.

On the other hand, you have an alliance that follows through on its pledges," the retiree continued, alluding to Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party and its far-right partners.

Erdogan's ability to sustain support across Turkiye's southeastern disaster zone contributed to Kilicdaroglu's poor first-round performance, in which he finished down by roughly five points.

The Turkish president is suddenly the overwhelming favourite, finishing off a spectacular reversal.

Angry by the government's delayed reaction to the February tragedy, which killed over 50,000 people, Erdogan found himself in the unusual position of offering public apologies.

Erdogan's electoral comeback, according to Berk Esen, an associate professor at Istanbul's Sabanci University, was "not very surprising."

Esen contended that the region is full of religious people who believed Erdogan's argument that the enormous toll was caused by an inevitable act of nature, rather than governmental carelessness due to inadequate building regulations.