Erdogan wins five more years as Turkey's president
With reporting from Paul Kirby, Ece Goksedef, and Orla Guerin in Ankara and Anna Foster in Istanbul
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With reporting from Paul Kirby, Ece Goksedef, and Orla Guerin in Ankara and Anna Foster in Istanbul
Live Reporting
Edited by Alexandra Fouché and Owen Amos
All times stated are UK
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Seeing you through the evening
Rob Corp
Live reporter
I'm stepping back from this live page as I'm on the early shift, but am handing over our continuing coverage of Turkey's run-off presidential election to Alexandra Fouché, Owen Amos and Thomas Mackintosh here in the UK.
Along with our live reporters in Turkey - Ece Goksedef and Paul Kirby in Ankara - they'll keep you updated through this Sunday evening and into the night.
Bride and groom cast their vote
It's a big day in Turkey - but an especially big day for this particular couple, who took time out to vote on their wedding day:
Congratulations to the happy couple!
Opposition: Results will come quickly
Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor in Ankara
I'm at opposition headquarters in Ankara where party spokesman Faik Oztrak tells us that results will come in quickly.
We're still under reporting silence here - meaning we can't report any predictions or exit polls - but we'll get a sense once that's lifted of how things are looking.
That might come in the next hour, if the first round is anything to go by. Restrictions during the campaign silence are unusual here. Most countries bar you from talking about the latest opinion polls, at least while voting is going on. But here it lasts longer and they aren't allowed to sell alcohol either.
And just a word of warning: when the first results come in they'll be from Erdogan strongholds and so the momentum could change.
Oztrak also appealed to the army of opposition volunteers who have been deployed to watch for any vote irregularities to ensure that the ballots are kept safe and secure.
Votes from Turks abroad will be key
Selin Girit
BBC Turkish
In such a tight race, every vote counts and how the Turkish diaspora votes will again be crucial.
Nearly two million Turkish citizens living abroad have already cast their votes, surpassing the turnout on the first round of the presidential elections held two weeks ago.
Some 3.5 million out of 64 million eligible voters live outside Turkey. In the first round the turnout was 53.8%.
Voting at the embassies and consulates for the run-off ended four days ago but it is still possible to vote at border points until polls close across Turkey today.
The ballot boxes containing all the votes cast abroad have already been transferred under high security to Ankara and the counting of these will start simultaneously with the rest of the country.
Initially the voting period in several countries including the UK where the opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu got more votes than President Erdogan was limited to two days, but this was extended to four days after complaints to the Supreme Election Council.
Voters began queuing before polls opened
Ece Göksedef
Live reporter in Ankara
It was 07:45 local time and the voters were already queuing on a sunny Ankara day to cast their votes when the polls opened at 08:00.
But it was not as big a queue as it was in the first round.
Sengul, one of the voters calls it "her most important duty and right" and says: “I had to do it first thing in the morning so that I could relax.”
When I asked her expectations for the next five years; she says: “I want a country where women are able to go out without any fear and don’t have any concerns about their future."
As all the voters waited in line, she said she was "very hopeful" too.
View from the voters: 'Who else can I trust?'
Ece Göksedef
Live reporter in Ankara
Let’s hear from a woman who supports President Erdogan's AK Party, which has been in power since November 2002.
Kirikkale is a small and conservative city in central Anatolia, and a stronghold for Erdogan where Binnaz and her friends run a tailoring shop.
She says they will always support their president, Erdogan.
"The only problem is the increase in prices, he should stop that. I want to trust him to cope with this," she says.
Binnaz isn't happy with AK Party’s alliance with the radical Islamist Kurdish HUDA Party, but adds: “Who else can I trust other than Erdogan? If there was a better alternative, why wouldn’t I say yes to them? But I don’t trust any of the opposition parties.”
Kemal Kilicdaroglu: Turkey’s opposition leader
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who has been the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) since 2010, is running for the presidency for the first time, at the age of 74.
In that time, he has broadened his party's appeal, trying to make peace with the Islamists and erased the party's old militaristic codes.
In the 2019 local elections, the candidates he picked for major cities won, including in Istanbul and Ankara - two cities symbolically important for President Erdogan.
He has also succeeded in uniting six opposition parties - which otherwise have little in common - behind him.
Kilicdaroglu comes from an Alevi family - a distinct Islamic sect, and religious minority in mostly Sunni Turkey.
Find out more about Kilicdaroglu here.
How do you pronounce the candidates’ names?
Ece Göksedef
Live reporter in Ankara
“Sorry, how do you pronounce your name?”
This is probably the phrase I have heard the most since I moved to England - and it’s not just me!
Turkish pronunciation can be tricky, so here is your guide to pronouncing the main candidates' names:
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pronounced Reh-jep Tah-yeep Err-doo-wan
Kemal Kilicdaroglu is pronounced Keh-maal Kilitch-daro-lu
Erdogan: Fighting to stay in power after 20 years
From humble beginnings, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has grown into a political giant, leading Turkey for 20 years and reshaping the country more than any leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the revered father of the modern republic.
In the 1970s and 80s, Erdogan was active in Islamist circles, joining the pro-Islamic Welfare Party.
As the party grew in popularity in the 1990s, Erdogan was elected as its candidate for mayor of Istanbul in 1994.
But his term came to an end when he was convicted of inciting racial hatred for publicly reading a nationalist poem, which included the line: “The mosques are our barracks.”
After serving four months in jail, he returned to politics. But his party had been banned for violating the strict secular principles of the modern Turkish state.
In 2001, he founded a new, Islamist-rooted party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
In 2002, the AKP won a majority in parliamentary elections and has been ruling the country ever since.
Read more here.
Polls close in Turkey's run-off presidential election
That's it - the polls have closed across Turkey.
Stay with us as over the coming hours as the results come in.
It will take some time before we know whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is re-elected as Turkey's leader or if challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu has overcome the odds and is heading for power.
Key issues in the election
Ece Göksedef
Live reporter in Ankara
The cost of living is seen as the biggest issue of this election.
Rent in the big cities trebled in a year and inflation is at its highest since 1998, with the cost of energy, basic food items and transport increasing the most.
Millions of Turks are still having to deal with the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes of 6 February, which hit 11 cities and left tens of thousands dead. The government has been criticised over delays in the rescue operation following the quakes - for which President Erdogan later apologised.
The government has increased public spending, promising higher pensions, bigger scholarships for students, some support for energy bills and greater access to low-interest mortgages.
But many Turks are attracted to opposition promises to scale back Erdogan’s executive presidential powers, narrowly voted through in 2017, and go back to a parliamentary system.
Another issue for voters is the government’s handling of criticism on social media.
According to justice ministry data, some 50,000 people have been sued for “defaming the president” since Erdogan took up the job in 2014.
Brisk voting as Turkey decides its future
Anna Foster
Reporting from Istanbul
A steady stream of people crossed the basketball court at Semsipasa primary school in Istanbul, heading indoors out of the rain to cast their ballots.
Inside, homework celebrating Turkish national holidays covers the walls, greeting voters with hand-drawn flags and patriotic messages.
In the first classroom, officials told me business had been brisk. The process was far faster than the first round because the ballot paper was simpler.
They explained that two weeks ago the voting form for the parliamentary elections was so long people were struggling to fold it up and squeeze it into the envelopes.
Husna Donmez is 23, and one of the election monitors for the Kemal Kilicdaroglu team.
“This will determine our lives,” she tells me. “We want a certain person to leave power, for the youth, for everyone. That’s why we are trying to ensure the integrity of the ballot box."
But former Imam Hasan Tekneci disagrees, and is voting again for Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Turkey has faced many things, Covid, the earthquake, despite all of this our country is fine. We voted to overcome these things”.
In pictures: Turks head to the polls
Polls close in the next half-hour in Turkey's presidential election - let's take a look at some of the pictures we've been getting:
Opposition leader casts vote in Turkish elections
Turkish presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the opposition Republican People's Party, earlier cast his vote at a polling station in Ankara.
Many analysts expect him to face an uphill battle to replace President Erdogan after faring worse than expected in the first round.
President Erdogan casts vote in second round
Earlier on Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cast his vote at a polling station in Istanbul. He is the favourite to win the election, after a stronger-than-expected showing in the first round.
Polarised Turkey faces stark choice about its future
Orla Guerin
Reporting from Ankara
At polling stations in Ankara today, Turkey’s historic presidential run-off got off to a subdued start..
We saw fewer crowds than during the first round earlier this month. But the process was also quicker this time - just one ballot paper and one stark choice.
Turks can opt for five more years of their long-time authoritarian leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan or vote for change with opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
As he voted in Istanbul, President Erdogan praised Turkish democracy and the high turnout in the first round. “There is no country in the history of the world with a turnout of up to 90%,” he said.
Outside the polling station, he handed out cash to supporters, as he has done in the past, peeling off 200 lire notes (£8, $10).
One election official here told us turnout was down so far by Turkey’s normally high standards (87% of voters cast their ballots in the first round). At another polling station, an official spoke of “lethargy”.
There was no sign of that when Kilicdaroglu came to vote. Supporters had lined up to wait for him, sheltering under trees during a deluge of rain.
He called on Turks to “get rid of an authoritarian regime”. One young woman - in tears - told us Kilicdaroglu was her hope for the future. He’s facing an uphill battle in this contest.
Ninety-year-old retired lawyer Ozcan Aker told us he wanted an end to dictatorship.
Philosophy teacher Aysegul said Turkey had developed hugely under in the Erdogan era and she wanted continuity.
Whoever wins the election will be taking on a country that is deeply polarised.
What happened in the first round?
After the polls closed on Sunday 14 May, both presidential frontrunners claimed they were on track to win, and both sides filed complaints with the electoral authorities about alleged irregularities.
This delayed the result announcement until later the next morning.
The opposition party - the Republican People's Party (CHP) - alleged miscounting of thousands of ballot boxes in the presidential and parliamentary polls.
The international monitoring group OSCE highlighted several flaws in the election, pointing out that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling parties had enjoyed "an unjustified advantage".
On Sunday evening, Erdogan told his AK Party supporters he believed he would win in the second round.
Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu also addressed his supporters that night and he too vowed to win the second round. Opinion polls had predicted Kilicdaroglu would finish ahead in the first round, so the result left his supporters disappointed.
The third candidate in the presidential election, Sinan Ogan, meanwhile, garnered 5.17% of the votes. He has since called on his supporters to vote for Erdogan in the run-off.
Parliamentary elections were also held on 14 May, and the AK Party's alliance won enough seats to form a majority in the 600-seat parliament (read more here).
What are people voting for?
Some 64 million Turkish nationals are going back to the ballot box for the second time in two weeks.
Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is due to go head to head with his opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu in a run-off vote after neither secured 50% of the votes in the first round.
This is unlike the last two presidential elections where Erdogan passed the 50% threshold needed to win outright in the first round.
Many opinion polls had suggested his rival was on course to win the first round - but Erdogan is the clear favourite in the second round.
He came ahead in the first round with 49.52% of the votes while Kilicdaroglu received 44.88%.
Welcome back, tekrar hos geldiniz!
Two weeks ago, Turkish voters went to the polls to choose a new president and a new parliament.
They elected a new parliament, but are going back to the polling stations today to select a new leader after incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan narrowly failed to reach the 50% required to avoid a second round.
The opposition coalition's candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, faces an uphill battle to overturn Erdogan’s first-round lead. Despite heading a coalition of several parties, he did not reach the required threshold to avoid a run-off round.
As well as our team in London, we have live reporter Ece Goksedef and Europe digital editor Paul Kirby in Ankara to bring you all the latest developments as Turkey votes in this momentous second round of the presidential election.