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Turkey Votes
According to initial results, a huge number of voters changed their minds at the last minute and decided to vote for the AKP, despite what they said to pollsters. Either this is a huge upset, a sign of fraud, or the early results are way off. With 50 percent counted, the projection is that the AKP will have 331 seats in parliament — enough for single party rule, and to effect constitutional reforms by taking them to a referendum.
The results so far may be skewed because the earliest results are from the east, where the AKP is stronger. CHP and MHP are stronger in the West.
It’s still too early for post-mortems or to say what this means. It will be a long night for those with an interest in Turkey. But right now, it looks like this:
They’ve been trying for 50 years. It looks like they’ll stop trying. It’s useless. I’m not even sure the Balkan countries would stand for it. EU free movement is now strained by incoming waves of people from the Middle East. Borders with Central Asia & the Middle East are impossible. Everyone knows it… As for all the other, more serious reasons, everyone knows that, too. But it’s Europe.
This result doesn’t surprise me at all.
“The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.” – Joseph Stalin
The EU ought to kick them completely out. I’ve never really understood why the EU was ever interested in Turkish EU membership. Cheap gastarbeiter?