After 21 yrs in power, Erdogan says ‘this election is my last election’

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the country’s March local elections would be his last, suggesting an end to his more than two decades in power.

Erdogan, modern Turkey’s most successful politician, has led the country for more than two decades. A winner of more than a dozen elections since 2002, Erdogan was re-elected for a five-year term during hotly contested elections in May 2023.

“I am working non-stop. We’re running around breathlessly because, for me, it’s a final,” said the president at a meeting of the TUGVA Young Turks foundation.

“This is a final for me, under the mandate given by the law this is my last election,” Erdogan said. “The result that will come out will be the transferring of a legacy to my siblings who will come after me,” he was cited as saying by Anadolu.

The 70-year-old leader expressed confidence that his conservative Justice and Development (AKP) party would nonetheless remain in power even after he has left office. A constitutional change in 2017 then turned Turkey from a parliamentary system into an executive presidency, abolishing the position of prime minister and ensuring that Erdogan’s grip on power remained unchanged.

Further election successes in 2018 and last year have meant that Erdogan’s often controversial rule has extended into a third decade.