Recep Tayyip Erdogan is back on the campaign trail after falling ill on live television. Photo: presidential press office via Reuters
Visitors to the small Turkish Black Sea town of Rize, with its green hills and tea plantations, leaves no doubt about his claim to fame.
“Welcome to the president's hometown!” – such words adorn a giant billboard overlooking the city where Recep Tayyip Erdogan was born.
The area has long been a mainstay of support for Mr. Erdogan and his party, which has promoted a conservative, nationalist agenda, rather than almost 20 years in power.
But a worsening cost-of-living crisis and fatigue from Erdogan's rule have given the opposition's first real chance of overthrowing him when Turkey goes to the polls on May 14.
Mr Erdogan, who was recently forced to cancel campaign events due to illness, trails Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a presidential candidate, in the polls from the Turkish opposition.
Even in his traditional heart, voters are divided over whether Turkey's longest-serving leader should be allowed to remain in power.
Kemal Sendeniz, a 60-year-old tea farmer, has declined sympathy to the left in the early 2000s to support his Justice and Development Party (AKP), after being won over by the government's infrastructure upgrades.
“I voted for the AKP for two reasons. First: the development of infrastructure, mainly hospitals. Secondly, Erdogan gave us a worthy place in the international arena,” he said.
Rising costs
Because they shared traditional black tea, he and other farmers complained about the low wholesale prices set by the state and the rising cost fertilizers and fuels.
“The time has come for a change. We've had enough,” he said.
Inflation hit a 24-year high last November, largely due to the government's unorthodox monetary policy when its central bank appointees refused to raise interest rates in response. to soaring prices.
Trade was sluggish on a recent afternoon at a traditional open-air market in the regional capital of Trabzon, where stripes of the seafront peeked out from the cityscape.
Weak economy Turkey was also a key issue for Nur Özçilingir, who owned a family-owned copper shop with her husband in the regional capital of Trabzon.
She described how difficult it was for her to keep up with rising wholesale prices. for the goods she sells, from small copper Turkish coffee pots to massive samovar teapots.
“If the government does not change, the country will roll back,” she said.
Arzu Shahin, 37 The 1-year-old mother of two who owns a flower shop in Trabzon says the stagnation of business is forcing her to reconsider her political views.
Ms Shaheen said she has always voted for the AKP or Erdogan's other party.
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“We don’t see protection from the state, and everything is getting more expensive,” she said, adding that she hasn’t decided who to vote for yet. jpg” /> Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who is leading in some polls, is campaigning in Kocaeli. Photo: Erdem Sahin/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Mr Erdogan faces stiff competition from Kılıçdaroğlu, 74, a soft-spoken bureaucrat backed by six opposition parties.
Hoping to ease the weariness with Mr. Erdogan's determined leadership style, which has intensified since the coup attempt. in 2016, six major parties, ranging from overtly secular to moderately Islamist, formed the “Table of Six” last year. They vowed to work together to reduce the president's executive powers and restore the independence of the central bank.
Career politicians such as Temel Karamollaoglu, leader of the Table Six Happiness Party, see the May 14 elections as a watershed moment for Turkey.
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“The current presidential system is leading Turkey towards dictatorship: our main goal is to change that,” Mr. Karamollaoglu told The Telegraph in the Black Sea city of Trabzon in the first foreign media interview of his campaign for a single opposition candidate.
The roads outside the five-star hotel where the 81-year-old party leader spoke to supporters on Thursday night were packed with conservatively dressed men and women who clapped and lit torches for his motorcade leaving the hotel.
< p>Happiness Party voters, backed by observant Muslims from conservative provinces such as the eastern Black Sea coast, rarely overlap with secular, Western-leading Republican Party supporters of Mr. Kilicdaroglu (CHP), but the country's dire economic state is helping the opposition bridge those differences.< /p>Inflation hits 24-year high
Inflation in Turkey has skyrocketed over the past two years, hitting a 24-year high in November last year, largely due to Erdogan's government's unorthodox monetary policy as his central bank appointees refused to raise interest rates in response to soaring prices. .
Mr. Karamollaoglu describes the economic problems as a direct result of Mr. Erdogan's abuse of hospitality.
“The economy is collapsing, external debt is around $450bn (£357bn) and minimum wages are below the poverty line all show what the AKP has done over the last 21 years,” he said.
Aside from his economic woes, concerns about the 69-year-old leader's health have intensified this week after he was forced to abruptly leave a live interview after he suddenly fell ill. Erdogan later said he had stomach flu and canceled several campaign events.
On Thursday, he opened Turkey's first nuclear power plant via video link, looking tired but seemingly recovered.
According to public opinion polls, 56% of Turks consider the weakening economy to be the most important issue in the elections. , Mr. Erdogan tried to calm the growing discontent.
'Civil liberties are shrinking'
Over the weekend, the Turkish leader promised free natural gas for households over the next 12 months, opening a new gas field at Chernoy seas.
And late last year, he removed the retirement age requirement for civil servants, making more than two million Turks eligible for immediate pensions.
About five million of the 64 million eligible Turks are eligible to vote. to do so for the first time, the government and opposition began courting the country's youth.
But there was little enthusiasm for Mr. Erdogan among young people, even in his hometown.
Beiza , a 26-year-old teacher, comes from a family of “ardent Erdogan supporters”. in Rize. However, she said she would not vote for him for fear of what many are calling the creeping Islamization of the Turkish state based on the promise of a secular society.
Young people like Beyza, a smiling woman. with round glasses and curly red hair, Erdogan's roads and hospitals are said to be praiseworthy but hide deeper problems.
“The longer he was in power, the worse the economy got and civil liberties dwindled,” she said. “These [roads and hospitals] are not enough.”
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