--- title: "Turkish Housewives as the Wild Card" type: "post" post_id: "4246" slug: "turkish-housewives-as-the-wild-card" canonical: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2023/05/11/turkish-housewives-as-the-wild-card/" markdown_url: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2023/05/11/turkish-housewives-as-the-wild-card.md" json_url: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2023/05/11/turkish-housewives-as-the-wild-card.json" txt_url: "https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2023/05/11/turkish-housewives-as-the-wild-card.txt" published: "2023-05-11T17:06:37+00:00" modified: "2023-05-11T17:06:37+00:00" author: "penny2" categories: - "Uncategorized" tags: - "NATO" - "perception management" - "Russia" - "Syria" - "Turkey" - "Ukraine" - "US" site_name: "PFYT2" publisher: "" language: "en-US" generator: "easyPress Markdown" generator_version: "1.0.6" --- [**I love this piece.** ](https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-elections-silent-battle-housewives-votes-erdogan-still-prevails) **Housewives. That most put down group of women. Nearly always presented as persona non grata in society. Never doing anything meaningful or productive. And here they are, the wild card, in a vitally important election** > Out of the 64 million registered citizens eligible to vote in [Turkey](https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/turkey)’s upcoming elections on 14 May, **approximately 11 million are housewives.** > **This silent, low-profile social group may turn out to be the kingmaker in the neck-to-neck elections, according to recent polls.** > > **Both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the opposition’s joint presidential candidate [Kemal Kilicdaroglu](https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/who-kemal-kilicdargolu) realise this and have promised policies specifically intended to secure their votes.** > > For example, the AK Party promised in its election manifesto that housewives would benefit from pensions covered by the state, just like working citizens. > > “The state will compensate one-third of the pension liability,” the statement [read](https://www.akparti.org.tr/media/dwyd05pu/tu-rkiye-yu-zy%C4%B1l%C4%B1-ic-in-dog-ru-ad%C4%B1mlar-2023-sec-im.pdf), adding that housewives would be regarded in the same way as workers doing hard labour. > > Kilicdaroglu also underlined his understanding that most housewives are religious and would like to have their accounts in interest-free banks as earning interest is forbidden in Islam. > > > > > > > > > > > > **However, Oguz Kaan Salici, Kilicdaroglu’s deputy, said their party was still not as successful as it should have been.`“We still couldn’t convince most of the housewives, but our efforts continue,”`** he said during a press meeting in late April. > > > > > > > > > > > > ### The number one choice > > **The opposition certainly seem to have a difficult task ahead of them.** > > I**f previous elections are a guide, it’s clear that most housewives prefer Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party** (AK Party). > > According to polls [conducted](https://www.politikyol.com/ev-kadinlari-kime-nasil-oy-veriyor/) by IPSOS Turkey during the 2018 elections, Erdogan was the number-one choice among housewives. > > Additional research by KONDA Research and Consultancy [provided](https://konda.com.tr/uploads/konda-secmenkumeleri-akparti-secmenleri-mayis2018-f3848f8d2137abf61eb8f9d2ab392e27a01c13f29fc7a5334ee3cc1336fd753c.pdf) more detail: **in previous presidential elections more than half of housewives voted for Erdogan, while only 11 percent voted for the Republican People’s Party (CHP).** > > eride Gur (55), a housewife and mother of two, said she would not change her political allegiance despite Turkey’s ongoing [financial crisis](https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/lira-crisis), which has seen the lira plummet and inflation soar. > > ***“Nobody can expect me to vote for CHP despite the fact that we have been coping with economic hardship,***” she told Middle East Eye. > > Recounting the **first day of her daughter’s registration to university back in 2006,** Gur explains why she would vote for Erdogan. > > ***“My daughter was successful in securing a spot at a top university in Istanbul. I was excited to accompany her on the first day. When we reached the university, the security said: ‘Hey lady! You can’t enter inside!’*** > > ***“I had just wanted to enter the campus, the garden. After a while the security came back and announced that all veiled women had to wait down the road not in front of the gate.”*** > > **`“This was the result of CHP policies.`** **Not AKP policies. Not Erdogan.** ### Veil ban > This strong support for **Erdogan is not only related to the lifting of a decades-long ban on veil,** but it is also linked to social services. > > Through its separate women’s branch, the **AK Party has introduced several social aid programs that particularly target nonworking women, in addition to providing child benefit payments and salaries for those caring for the elderly, which can include a woman’s parents or parents-in-law.** **So, Erdogan’s AKP party lifted the veil ban?! Wow, that’s not how the western media portrays this party and it’s leader.** **Lastly, [Pepe Escobar wrote a piece for the Cradle](https://thecradle.co/article-view/24623/bold-gambits-on-the-west-asian-chessboard)** **While I agree with his premise of their being much at stake on the west Asian Chessboard- I disagree with his premise that not much will change of the opposition wins the Turkish election.** > “Yet Washington may be in for a surprise. Turkish opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has implied there will be a more or less [continued balanced posturing](https://twitter.com/kilicdarogluk/status/1654939104495255552?cxt=HHwWgIC-hZ2Ww_ctAAAA) of Ankara’s foreign policy tilt, while some observers believe that even if Erdogan is ousted, [there will be limits](https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/08/middleeast/turkey-foreign-policy-elections-russia-mime-intl/index.html) to Turkiye’s pivot back to the west. **The opposition has been very plainly saying they will pivot back to the West and NATO.** > [Turkey’s Opposition Candidate Will Steer Turkey Back Into Western Clutches](https://pennyforyourthoughts2.ca/2023/05/10/turkeys-opposition-candidate-will-steer-turkey-back-into-western-clutches/) > **He would steer Turkey closer to NATO and the West if he wins Sunday’s election.** > **Mr. Kilicdaroglu says he would strengthen Turkey’s role as linchpin of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization** **Those statements don’t strike me as “balanced posturing”** **Compared to the AKP statements** > **Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu has already made it plain that if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan retains power in the 14 May [presidential elections](https://thecradle.co/article-view/24437/analysis), Ankara will neither impose sanctions on Russia nor violate the Montreux Convention, which forbids the passage of warships to and from the Black Sea in wartime.** > > Erdogan’s chief security and foreign policy adviser, **Ibrahim Kalyn, has aptly pointed out that there is no war between Russia and Ukraine; rather, it’s a war between Russia and the west with Ukraine serving as the proxy.** > > **This is why the collective west is heavily invested in an “Erdogan must go” campaign, which is lavishly funded to propel an oddly-matched coalition into the presidential seat.** **I often get the impression that Mr Escobar has some personal bias against Erdogan. Just my opinion. But when he makes such contradictory statements it leaves me scratching my head.**