If Turks love Kemal Ataturk so much why do they keep supporting Erdoğan?
Posted by New-Dare-4889@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 59 comments
Their policies are so different
Minskdhaka@reddit
To put it very simply: the ones who are into Atatürk don't tend to vote for Erdoğan, and vice versa.
Winslow_99@reddit
Are there really so many people that are not into Atatürk ? When I was in Turkiye I had the impression that everyone loved him. It was everywhere ! Even in the rural zones
ZAMAHACHU@reddit
The majority of Erdogan supporters don't actually love Ataturk. Erdogan himself is doing his best to cancel Ataturk.
acboeri@reddit
That's not true
Atatürk is by far the most admired historical figure in Turkey. Forty-six percent of those who voted for Erdoğan's party said that Atatürk was the leader they most admired, followed by Fatih Sultan Mehmet as the most admired historical figure.
ZAMAHACHU@reddit
46% is not a majority kardeş.
acboeri@reddit
This is another one. 82% of AKP supporters expressed gratitude to Atatürk for what he did
Impossible_Speed_954@reddit
Being thankful isn't necessarily equal to loving. As %50+ of Turkey voted for Erdoğan, we can assume %50+ of Turkey likes Erdoğan more than Atatürk.
acboeri@reddit
62% of AKP supporters see him as a savior.
ZAMAHACHU@reddit
?
acboeri@reddit
This is a survey of political views. It cannot be inferred from this whether they like Atatürk or not. A person can be a conservative and still love Atatürk.
lilianbarnes@reddit
They can “say” they love him but if there is a choice between Ataturk’s most important politics like secularism and religion based ones, they would chose latter. They seem Atatürk as a savior who fought against enemy but they don’t completely support or understand his politics, world view etc.
31_hierophanto@reddit
Yup, most Erdo fanboys are neo-Ottoman Islamists.
Justwar200@reddit
And us Kemalist are anti imperialist and endorse peace at home peace in the world
Dry_Hyena_7029@reddit
Dude reddit as any reddit is bubble which not represent any country
lilianbarnes@reddit
People love charismatic leader, who will lead them, making their life easier with less choices. I’m not saying that is good but it is the truth about most of our populations. Yeah, Atatürk gave us democracy, didn’t try to establish a new empire but still most of his time was one man lead politics.
Erdo uses religion to justify his deeds and people are mostly just believing they are doing good supporting him because he seems like having a close relation with religion, with god or anything. He even said something like “If they had dollars we have Allah with us.” and they blamed Allah for reclining Turkish lira, inflation, economy in general. I know it doesn’t sound logical but in hard times like this (most of people suffering heavily because of economic situation I mean even in their basic necessities) people want to believe it is their road to heaven, they are suffering now but it is a challenge to go to heaven after death. Most of the people just believe more they suffer they have more chance to go heaven. This is emotional and non rational part.
Also there is a very succesful manipulation story. Media, education, religional constitutions… They all belongs to him.
Nal1999@reddit
I also love Alexander the Great but burning Thebes is unnecessary...yet.
Tall-Mongoose-2794@reddit
I’ve been in the army there and I agree with Alexander
Nal1999@reddit
Too many chores?
I was in Samos.
Tall-Mongoose-2794@reddit
Too many bro,also some crazy officers that were funny but fucked up as well
Nal1999@reddit
I feel you.
I was at the restaurant,200 soldiers per fucking day!
CriticalHistoryGreek@reddit
Still unnecessary. "At some point it will burn anyway", said Koulis.
Tall-Mongoose-2794@reddit
I’ve been in the army there and I agree with Alexander
Nal1999@reddit
Double comment
Tall-Mongoose-2794@reddit
I have bad internet cause I don’t live in Berlin…yet
desertfox3834@reddit
Same
GeorgeHermes32@reddit
Lmao
Tall-Mongoose-2794@reddit
I have bad internet cause I don’t live in Berlin…yet
StamatisTzantopoulos@reddit
Ι have been to modern Thebes and I wouldn't object to burning it again
Sudden_Shock8434@reddit
Turks on the internet do not represent all Turks. Except for 6-7 cities in Anatolia, the other cities are shitholes, the level of education in those cities is low, Islamism is high.
Ornery_Rip_6777@reddit
What are the "best/important" cities in Turkey beside Istanbul and Ankara ?
Sudden_Shock8434@reddit
izmir
Bursa
Mersin
Antalya
Kocaeli
Muğla
Kayseri
These are the things that come to my mind now, but edirne are rapidly becoming industrialized.
There are also cities like Eskişehir that are not rich but have high living standards.
Atvaaa@reddit
blud really left out Adana, Gaziantep, Samsun and Diyarbakır
Sudden_Shock8434@reddit
30 tane büyükşehir var zaten hepsini sayma gereği bulmadım aslında bakınca şehirlerimizin hemen hemen hepsi balkan şehirlerinden daha iyi
Ornery_Rip_6777@reddit
What about places like Trabzon, Malatya, Antakya, Van or Sivas ?
Sudden_Shock8434@reddit
Van is a rapidly developing city with the new policies of the government, but it is trying to leave Turkey. Malatya is a beautiful city, but it was badly damaged in the earthquake. Trabzon is an underrated city, it makes money from the port and 90% of the Turkish mafia consists of them. Antakya is a part of Hatay. Hatay was a developed city in terms of port and industry, but it is in ruins due to the earthquake. Sivas is a beautiful city, after Erzurum, they have the most beautiful examples of Seljuk architecture. I don't know much about it, but there are many people from Sivas in Istanbul.
Hour-Region-5520@reddit
source needed bro
the_spolator@reddit
Some just have a more realistic view of Gazi Mustafa Kemal than others who have a rather idealistic and iconising view, almost to the point of deifying.
Let’s just take the USA for comparison. George Washington did something similar in terms of fighting for independence against a strong enemy and building a nation out of nothing. However, Americans are not putting up statues of him everywhere, naming all parks and boulevards after him, founding „Think like George Washington“ clubs, making such a huge deal about everything George Washington, are they?
I think it’s absolutely justified to show eternal gratefulness for Gazi Mustafa Kemal for his achievements in liberating Turkiye from foreign occupation and founding a modern republic, but stop the exaggeration for God‘s sake.
Professional_Wish972@reddit
One thing I found out about the Balkans, not being Balkan myself but having in laws -- Reddit is not a true reflection of reality.
I think Reddit is a good reflection of one demographic but in reality for instance in this case, most Turkish do not use reddit and you won't get an unbiased answer.
triple_cock_smoker@reddit
Complicated. For most rural Turks he is just a "military guy" who saved us from partition and his countless reforms and modernisations are kinda ignored/forgotten
Unfair-Way-7555@reddit
From my experience, this is similar to how many Russians perceive Stalin( not to equate the figures).
Bilal_58@reddit
Erdoğan is a great liar, people think him as a great leader unaware of his actual deeds, how he ruins everything. The answer is simple ignorance
Opposite-Memory1206@reddit
What doesn't even help is how well your military is doing with him in charge, you guys are already producing your own drones and a fighter jet which is supposed to rival the F-35 which is crazy
Bilal_58@reddit
The only thing good happing in turkey is army improving at least he didnt fuck it up like everything else
Hour-Region-5520@reddit
Erdogans support is not what it once was. If you look at the last local election he did pretty badly.
SnooPoems4127@reddit
almost a century between them, and its your answer...
31_hierophanto@reddit
Distance is always the key.
Another_WeebOnReddit@reddit
A lot of Arab immigrants (especially Syrian "refugees" vote for him. he gave Arab immigrants free citizenships just to vote for him, I know this because I have a lot of relatives there who entered illegally and don't speak basic Turkish got free citizenships just to vote for him.
Ok-Amount6679@reddit
Yeah, he doesn’t care about Turkey at all. It’s insane to me how his voter base is right wing. Anywhere else in the world right wing will try to limit immigration but his supporters are too stupid to realize they are being replaced.
chickensoldier_bftd@reddit
Its because the right has no real backbone to their ideologies other than just being angry at shit pointed at by the 'big man leader' collectively. Which is also why they are faster at organizing than the left.
Neat-Direction-7017@reddit
I reject the premise. Ataturk was more personal about religion than his predecessors but he was by no means a secular man. While Erdogan might be more personal about his religion than his predecessors, I would still argue that he is no where close to being a theocrat. We always compare things to what came before, but in reality both Ataturk and Erdogan were niether atheist nor extremely fundamentalist.
Ok-Amount6679@reddit
Not all Turks love Ataturk, unfortunately. A lot of Erdogan supporters don’t love him and just see him as a good figure. Some of his supporters pick and choose between Ataturk’s ideals. And also not all Turkish people are Turks and some just don’t care about him that much or even dislike him.
Also the last 20 years they have done a lot of work to erase his legacy. For example when I was a kid national holidays were much more important and there was a ton of Ataturk on the syllabus. Year by year they are erasing anything that’s related to him and turning him into just some historical figure.
architecTiger@reddit
Erdoganists don’t like Ataturk, they pretend they do. They miss Ottoman sultans and think Ataturk destroyed that glorious empire. Also most Erdogan supporters aren’t Turks, majority of them are Muslims from other ethnicities.
SnooPoems4127@reddit
does erdogan supporters knows that they"re arent Turks? how do you know they arent?
architecTiger@reddit
Some does, some doesn’t know that they aren’t Turks. They don’t have any Turkic culture, all they got is religion which they claim a must for being a Turk. Also no one who fallows Ataturk’s footsteps would support Erdogan. They were converted to Islam during Ottoman time and became Turkic after Ataturk established Turkish Republic.
ShitassAintOverYet@reddit
Some miraculously believe liking both is not contradictory. I believe such people never had an idea about politics outside of "follow the charismatic guy" which both Erdoğan and Atatürk check to some extend.
Z-VivaMoldova-Z@reddit
I like both
Z-VivaMoldova-Z@reddit
we love both
SwimmingHelicopter15@reddit
Ok so first of all if you stop people on the streets and ask about policies a lot of them will not be able to answer.
Secondly. Ataturk is loved (from what I understood) because he brought Turkey in modern era. It was a huge thing, a lot of policies in a quick time. Not many countries in this world changed that fast and also with a huge empire behind it.
Bakolena4542@reddit
because Atatürk is the founding father of the republic, most political parties fit his vision within their ideology. Nationalists argue that he was a nationalist, social democrats argue that he was a social democrat etc. Though more opposition party supporters align themselves with Atatürk's policies and vision, interestingly 14.7% of Erdo supporters also align themselves with Atatürk's policies.
Source* (its in turkish): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vRMOjwvqSUPgWELsTrLPR1f81jl4uY4e/view
*Scroll to page 10, and its the second bar called AKP which is Erdo's Justice and Development Party. Red represents support for Atatürk's vision and policies.