Turkish interior minister accuses West of election coup attempt

Turkey’s interior minister has accused the West of using the country’s tightly contested May elections to carry out a coup attempt, sharing a video of US President Joe Biden saying he would support the opposition as evidence.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu tweeted a television interview of himself on Saturday, stating hewas making the point again that the elections were a political coup. As Soylu was speaking on-air, the channel played the video of Biden speaking about backing Turkey’s opposition if he became president.

How is Turkey's election looking?

Polls have suggested the presidential and parliamentary elections held on May 14 will be close, with some surveys putting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his main challenger, the head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, within one or two percentage points of each other.

The pro-Kurdish HDP, which is not part of the coalition, urged supporters on Friday to vote for Kılıçdaroglu, a major boost for the candidate who heads an alliance of six opposition parties. The party’s candidate in 2018, Selahattin Demirtas, garnered about 8% of the vote in the presidential race despite being behind bars.

The interior minister earlier raised the idea of foreign interference on Thursday, stating that theelections were “West’s political coup attempt.”

The next day, Soylu tweeted that the elections were a “political coup attempt,” blaming the US, and then shared the video of Biden. He made the remarks about supporting Turkey’s opposition leadership in an interview with New York Times journalists during his presidential campaign.

“We can support those elements of the Turkish leadership that still exist and get more from them and embolden them to be able to take on and defeat Erdogan,” he said. “Not by a coup, but by the electoral process.”

Berk Esen, an assistant professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabancı University, told The Media Line the interior minister’s comments could be a sign that some officials may not concede if Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) loses.

“I’m quite concerned by Süleyman Soylu’s statement,” said Esen.

“It could also demonstrate the fact that some members of the government are really hardliners when it comes to changing power through electoral means and that they might be getting ready to resist.”

Esen said the comments suggest that some parts of Erdoğan’s government believe they may lose but that the Turkish president could not make such remarks because it would be seen as a sign of weakness.

Salim Çevik, an expert on Turkey and human rights at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, stated Soylu’s remarks showed that AKP may not accept defeat.

“Most probably they will accept defeat, but they are also seriously considering that option,” Çevikwrote in an email to The Media Line. “AKP would choose its course of action mostly according to the opposition’s ability to defend their victory, but AKP is also clearly trying to keep options available.”

Çevik argued Erdoğan would both claim that the elections were free and fair, as well as signal that he would not accept defeat through other people’s statements. While campaigning for the CHP on Sunday, the mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavaş, rejected Soylu’s assertion of a coup attempt and stated the ballot box will reflect the will of the people.

A journalist who asked Soylu a question on the matter on Friday said the interior minister’s security team photographed his ID and tried to delete the video of the interaction, the Duvar news website reported.

Soylu has previously accused the US of being involved in the 2016 coup attempt. Çevik stated that while there are anti-Western sentiments in Turkey, he did not believe that Soylu’s remarks would appeal to voters.

“Raising question marks over the authenticity of the elections is a far stretch and that is usually perceived negatively by the electorate,” he wrote in an email to The Media Line. Esen said such a strategy was unlikely to change undecided voters, but it could motivate those in Erdoğan’s base who have been wavering. “They’re basically trying to alarm and scare [their] voters to vote for the incumbent,” he said.