site.bta2023: A Difficult and Dynamic Year for 100-year-old Turkiye

For the Republic of Turkiye, the past year was extremely difficult, dynamic and saturated with various events. The country was affected by devastating earthquakes in February with over 50,000 victims, followed by severe floods. Presidential and parliamentary elections were held in May, in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party once again remeined in power. Many significant infrastructure projects were implemented, tourism was on the rise. However, the country was once again hit by serious inflation, following another devaluation of the Turkish lira.

In October, when the 100th anniversary of the republic was celebrated, a suicide bombing attack was carried out in the heart of the Turkish capital. At the same time, despite another horrific terrorist attack, the whole of October was filled eith events on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkiye by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The culmination of the celebrations was on the holiday itself, October 29, which is also the country's national holiday.

Undoubtedly, the most severe and terrifying event that rocked not only Turkiye and neighboring Syria, but also the entire world, were the 7.7 and 7.8 magnitude earthquakes on February 6. The tragedy affected 11 districts in southeastern Turkiye. In addition to the tens of thousands of victims and a huge number of injured, millions of people were left homeless. Entire cities such as Nurdagi (Gaziantep District) and Antakya (Hatay District) were destroyed. A three-month state of emergency was declared in the heavily affected areas.

After the tragedy, Turkiye went into mourning, as the whole country united in its efforts to save not only people but also pets, to provide shelter and food for the millions of newly homless people in the cold winter days. At this time the whole world came together to help. Bulgaria was the first EU country to send rescue teams to the affected areas.

Months after the disaster, a big number of earthquakes of varying strength were recorded in the country, with some of the stronger earthquakes causing casualties and injuries. On December 4, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake was recorded in the Istanbul region, re-igniting people's fears of a new devastating earthquake in the metropolis.

In March, catastrophic floods broke out in Southeastern Anatolia causing more casualties.

Many expected the presidential and parliamentary elections planned for May to be postponed. However, this did not happen and the elections took place as planned - on May 14. In the parliamentary elections, Erdogan's alliance won, and in the presidential elections, he was able to win convincingly in the second round, which took place on May 28.

The race in the parliamentary elections was mainly between the opposition Nation Alliance, also known as the Table of Six, and the Republican Alliance, led by the ruling Justice and Development Party. Erdogan and Kemal Kulcdaroglu, the then-chairman of the Republican People's Party were the two main contenders in the presidential election, described as "the most difficult test for Erdogan in the last 20 years".

High stakes were nothing new for leader Erdogan, who was once jailed (for reciting a religious poem) and also survived an attempted military coup in 2016 that killed more than 250 people.

The President, who has vast experience and has won more than ten times in elections, visited the area of the devastating earthquakes several times in February. He actually won in most of the affected districts with promises to quickly rebuild the area and punish construction companies who circumvented building regulations.

Additionally, in the weeks leading up to the election, Erdogan participated in important industrial events, including the launch of Turkiye's first TOGG electric car, the handover to the Turkish Navy of the largest Turkish warship and the world's first carrier of unmanned combat aircraft. The first tank of Turkish production Altay was included in the composition of the Turkish army. The Turkish President also launched the first delivery of natural gas from the Sakarya Gas Field to Turkiye. He also participated in a video conference in the opening of the first Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Southern Turkiye.

At the end of April, a high-speed train on the Ankara-Sivas line was launched, and at the beginning of May, the Zigana Tunnel was opened, the longest tunnel in Europe and Turkiye with a length of 14,476 m (Gumushane District, Northern Turkiye) and third longest in the world.

Erdogan's victory in the second round of the election on May 28 was celebrated by his millions of supporters. People celebrated all night in the streets and squares of many cities in the country, especially in the metropolis Istanbul and in the capital Ankara.

The defeat of the opposition bloc and its presidential candidate Kulcdaroglu quite naturally caused disappointment among the opposition's supporters. Turkiye's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party, elected 49-year-old Ozgur Ozel as its new chair in November, ending Kulcdaroglu's 13-year tenure.

The opposition bloc had joined forces in the landmark 2019 elections, in which the Justice and Development Party  lost power in Istanbul and Ankara for the first time under Erdogan. However, Meral Aksener's Good Party changed its attitude towards this alliance after the loss of the opposition alliance in the elections in May of this year. The Good Party withdrew from the opposition National Alliance and blamed the Republican People's Party for the poor performance of the opposition in the elections.

Meanwhile, in June Erdogan announced the new composition of his government, in which only two ministers remained from the previous cabinet. The heads of a number of key institutions, including the Turkish Central Bank, were replaced.

Also in June, Turkiye's central bank raised its key interest rate from 8.5% to 15% for the first time since 2021 and promised tighter monetary policy and inflation control, by a decision of the new head of the Central Bank, Hafize Gaye Erkan. Since then, however, the Turkish lira has lost a significant amount of its value, and at the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the year, the Central Bank raised the key interest rate from 40% to a record 42.5% . Despite all these actions, inflation in Turkiye continued to increase, reaching 61.98%  in November, the highest level in nearly a year.

In addition toongoing economic crisis, terrorism became an issue again on October 1, the day of the opening of the new parliamentary year, when a suicide bombing was carried out in front of the Interior Ministry in the center of the Turkish capital. Two terrorists took part in the attack, one of them blew himself up and the other was neutralized by the police. Two policemen were injured in the explosion. The Kurdistan Workers' Party claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Ankara.

Hours after the attack, the Turkish air force took action in northern Iraq, where Kurdistan Workers' Party militants have bases. Anti-terrorist operations with many detainees were also carried out in different parts of Turkiye.

A day after the attack, life in the Turkish capital began to return to normal, with the central streets and boulevards once again full of people. Panic and fear gave way to the everyday concerns of citizens.

On October 29, all of Turkiye celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the republic by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Solemn ceremonies were organized throughout the country not only on October 29, but throughout the month. Turkish citizens celebrated regardless of party preferences, age and social status.

The Republic of Turkiye's 100th year was undoubtedly an extremely difficult one. Despite the earthquakes in February, economic difficulties and terrorist threats in the country, huge infrastructure projects were implemented, and tourism was booming. During the summer season, the hotels in the Mediterranean and Aegean resorts were full of tourists from Europe and Middle Eastern countries, the interest of foreign visitors in Istanbul, Cappadocia, and many other places in the country continued to increase. A few days before Christmas and New Year, most hotels along the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea were booked.

Meanwhile, Turkiye is once again preparing for elections. Party preparations have already begun for the crucial local elections scheduled for March 31, 2024. The stakes will again be high as President Erdogan seeks to regain control of Istanbul and the capital Ankara, where the People's Republican Party won 2019 elections.