Campaigning for Turkey’s parliamentary elections has entered its final week.
For President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an event on Saturday celebrating the Ottomans’ conquest of Istanbul was a chance to rally support for the ruling AK Party, which he founded.
While constitutionally banned from party politics as head of state, Erdogan has nonetheless delivered podium speeches around the country in recent weeks ahead of the June 7 election.
He wants the Islamist-rooted AKP to win a big enough majority to change the constitution and hand him greater powers, within a presidential system.
Although opinion polls suggest the party may struggle to do so, one AKP supporter, who spoke to euronews at the rally, needs no convincing.
“The AK Party has been in government for 12 years and it’s powerful. In 90 years of this republic, no other party has reached out in such a way to Kurds, Alawites and others,” he said.
Campaigning nearby, however, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party or HDP,
