The fantasy of opposition coordination and democracy without democrats 2.0: Turkey after the elections

[First paragraph] The presidential and parliamentary elections of May 2023 were expected to mark Turkey’s long-awaited return to democracy. There were many indicators to justify this anticipation: Not only was the AKP government facing an accelerating economic and institutional crisis of its own making. The opposition appeared to be well-organized, audible, visible, and ready for the fight. The actual outcome however was one of utter devastation. President Erdoğan emerged victorious and enabled to tighten his grip over the state and society, even though his party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) lost votes. But the elections also triggered a series of post-election scandals and controversies within the opposition and particularly the Republican People’s Party (CHP, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi) that suggest that much of this buoyant mood in the opposition was, in fact, based on manipulations, dirty deals, and what increasingly appears to be a cynical party leader and a cabal of power-hungry cadres.