As people across Turkey hit the ballot boxes to vote in the first ever presidential elections, Turkey watchers argue that the political polarization is at its highest. Many attribute that to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in the office of the prime minister for over a decade and is also bidding for the presidency. While many saw Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party, known as AKP, as driving force for serious democratic reforms in the 91 year-old republic, he is seen by his critics as taking a U-turn towards authoritarianism. "I was raised in [a] conservative working class family who voted for the Justice and Development Party since its emergence," says 30 year-old Mahmut, project manager in Istanbul, who refused to give us his last name. "I think that what brought this party to power was its response to the democratic demand of everyone in Turkey. They implemented a lot of democratic reforms. The same party is just taking Turkey back to the anti-democratic days we no longer want to see." Other than the Turkish premier, two other candidates are bidding for the presidency. One is Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, a Turkish diplomat who served as the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation from 2004 to 2014. He is the joint candidate for several parties in Turkey including the two biggest opposition parties in the country, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement party (MHP). "I think that I will vote for Ihsanoglu," Mahmut said. "I think that this election is not about electing the president for Turkey. It is also making choice about the future prospect of the democracy of the country." The third Turkish presidential candidate is Selahattin Demirtas, who represents the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP). While his chances in winning the elections, according to analysts and to recent polls, seem significantly low, Demirtas's candidacy is seen as a milestone for the Kurds in Turkey. There are more than 20 million Kurds in the country, who were, for decades, persecuted by the Turkish authorities and denied simple rights such as using their own language in education, media and literature. Thus, the very idea of a Kurdish presidential candidate, with close ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), to have the chance of leading the entire Turkish nation is something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, when the Turkish nation and PKK were engaging in a decades-long bloody conflict. "Mr Demirtaş's People's Democratic Party (HDP) is testing the electoral waters as a new political force in Turkey," Michael Sercan Daventry, a blogger and journalist who writes on Turkish politics, wrote on his blog 'James In Turkey'. "They want to broaden beyond their core Kurdish vote and appeal to minority voters, the Turkish left and voters outside the country's southeast." "Essentially I think it is important to vote for what you want rather than what you do not want," Sera, 28, told Islamist Gate. "Demirtaş' campaign was carried out in such a way that it really took the inclusiveness that the HDP propagate to a new level. I am voting for the vision of a leader that Demirtaş is offering: young, dynamic, sense of humor, well-mannered and inclusive." Sera, declining to provide her last name for profession-related reasons, stressed that Demirtas's candidacy was a testament to the evolution of Turkey. "Even contemplating an openly Kurdish candidate for the office of President is a marker for how far the country has come with regards to minorities and discrimination." Then she adds, "I am from a Sunni Turk family, and both comfortable and proud of my identity. I have been dissatisfied with CHP for a long time and Ihsanoglu may woo AKP supporters from RTE but he represents a type of old guard for me. I have managed to come out of the political closet to my mother, but my family is harder to come out too. There is still a strong association that resonates between BDP and PKK, and they don't trust that Demirtaş won't do AKP bidding given the peace process." Many questioned the disproportionality between the different candidates' reach and ability to mobilize within the country. Erdogan opponents accuse him of taking advantage of state-run media outlets such as Anadolu Agency and Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) by acquiring more airtime and coverage of campaign rallies. In fact, The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) raised the issue in a recent report while also pointing to the fact that other candidates' campaigns were restricted, "not legally but in practice". Recent reports on Turkish media showed that Erdogan's campaign raised more than 50 million Turkish Liras (TL) (~ $27 million) in donations, while Ihsanoglu raised about 8 million TL ($4.5 million) while Demirtas raised a mere 1 million TL ($600,000). Recent polls suggested that Erdogan is expected to win in the first round of the election with a 57 percent of the vote, while Ihsanoglu would gather 48 percent and Demirtas would lack behind at 9 percent of the vote.
