AKP official likens electoral loss to historic Muslim defeat on battlefield

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A senior official from Turkey’s ruling party on Friday blamed the economic crisis for their unprecedented decline in popularity in last week’s local elections and compared the loss to the defeat of early Muslims on the battlefield. 

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has won every election since it came to power in 2002, except for the March 31 local polls in which the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) came first. 

“Every election has both losers and winners,” Ali Karakas, a member of the AKP’s Central Decision and Management Board (MKYK), told Rudaw’s Abdulsalam Akinci on Friday. 

“I liken this election to this… Muslims won a great victory in the Battle of Badr, but then there was also the Battle of Uhud in which Muslims suffered a serious loss and they were subsequently defeated. However, this defeat gave them greater power. The 17 elections [AKP] won in 22 years were kind of like the victory in Badr for us. But the elections of March 31, 2024 were like a defeat for us in the Battle of Uhud,” he said.

Muslims won the Battle of Badr against the Quraysh, a group of polytheistic Arab clans who opposed Prophet Mohammed, in 624 AD, but were defeated by the same clans the following year after the Muslim rear guard abandoned their positions. However, Muslims won the next time they fought at the Battle of the Trench. 

AKP does not consider itself as an Islamic party but its voter base is mainly conservatives. 

Karakas said the high cost of living in the country as well as concerns of retirees regarding their pensions were among the reasons his party lost votes. 

“Of course they are right. Our president also says they are right,” he acknowledged when asked if the complaints made by voters regarding their financial woes were justified. 

Erdogan admitted defeat in the elections and promised to address the people’s concerns. 

"Unfortunately, we did not get the result we wanted and hoped for from the local election test," Erdogan told supporters in his first post-election speech.

"We will definitely take the necessary steps by weighing the messages given by the nation at the ballot boxes in the most accurate and objective way," he added, concluding that “wherever we lose or fall behind, we will identify the reasons very well and make the necessary interventions.”