Turkish Presidential Election: August 10, 2014

[Sol]

Why didn't the opposition win Istanbul? It seems like a natural target.

Also, what would a competitive opposition look like in today's environment?

[Sol]

Because the realities of Turkish politics are quite different to the assumptions of Western journalists.

How so?

[Sol]

The Kemalist's predicament remind me of the Nehru-Gandhi's for some reason. They seem to expect that their history alone and being "secular" gives them the right to have the country.

Nehru-Gandhis I think have more of a natural base.

[Sol]

The far north-east (Kars, Ardahan, Artvin, Iğdır) seems to be leaning more to the CHP (also MHP and in the past DSP and DYP) than neighboring regions. Any reason for that? Armenia?

Yeah, that's a strange one. Iğdır at least is pretty heavily Azeri, so maybe that's a factor?

It seems like there are a lot of ethnic minorities up there.