If Turks love Kemal Ataturk so much why do they keep supporting Erdoğan?
Posted by New-Dare-4889@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 30 comments
Their policies are so different
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.
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
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.
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.
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
Double comment
Tall-Mongoose-2794@reddit
I have bad internet cause I don’t live in Berlin…yet
GeorgeHermes32@reddit
Lmao
Tall-Mongoose-2794@reddit
I have bad internet cause I don’t live in Berlin…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.
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.
Minskdhaka@reddit
To put it very simply: the ones who are into Atatürk don't tend to vote for Erdoğan, and vice versa.
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
ZAMAHACHU@reddit
The majority of Erdogan supporters don't actually love Ataturk. Erdogan himself is doing his best to cancel Ataturk.
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.
SnooPoems4127@reddit
almost a century between them, and its your answer...