TO STEP into the ring with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s bruiser of a president, takes courage and self-belief. Meral Aksener has plenty of both. At the launch of her new political party on October 25th, some of Mrs Aksener’s supporters broke into chants of “Prime Minister Meral!” She replied: “No, not prime minister. President.” A prominent nationalist and former cabinet minister, she has not yet declared her candidacy for elections that are due to be held in 2019. However, everyone assumes she will. “My friends really want me to run,” she says, referring to colleagues from her newly unveiled, innocuously named Iyi (Good) party. “I might have no other choice.”
Those who challenge Mr Erdogan tend to pay. The last to do so, Selahattin Demirtas, joint leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and a candidate in the 2014 presidential election, was thrown in prison last year on spurious terrorism charges. Mrs Aksener herself got a taste of Mr Erdogan’s...Continue reading
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