Yesterday, (May 7, 2023), there was a rally of reportedly 1.7 million people at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport showing support for Turkey's current president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, ahead of national elections this coming Sunday, May 14th.
On Saturday, (May 6, 2023), Erdoğan's opponent for president in the national elections, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, also held a rally in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, but I have been unable to find any published reports about how large the crowds were, although some of the foreign English media have reported that the crowds were in "the thousands" or "tens of thousands."
The media here in the U.S., however, in both the corporate media and the alternative media, are reporting that President Erdoğan is either losing or in a close race with Kiliçdaroglu, as they characterize Erdoğan as losing support in an election that "really matters."
Why do they say that this election "really matters"?
They use the same old excuse they always use when the U.S. has an interest in interfering with elections in other countries where they do not like the outcome: "democracy is at stake."
As someone who has lived for many years in Turkey in the past, and was at one time fluent in Turkish and worked as a translator in Turkey, I am going to report the "other side" of this Turkish election that you are not likely going to read in Western English news reports.
To sum up the "other side" of why the United States does not want Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to be re-elected as President of Turkey, it is because Turkey is clearly choosing sides in the conflict between the U.S. and Russia in Ukraine, and they are choosing their neighbor, Russia, who is helping Turkey become energy and military independent from the U.S., and part of a larger coalition of Middle Eastern Countries who are banding together to fight years of U.S. military dominance in their region over oil.
Some have even suggested that the deadly earthquake in Turkey earlier this year was not natural, but caused by an HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) weapon used by the U.S. to punish Turkey for working together with Russia.