By Alec Hogg
During our visit to London last month, my political risk consultant friend provided numerous gems, one of which was shared last week. Another was his urging to watch Sunday’s general election in Turkey where, for the first time since becoming Prime Minister in 2003, Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces a real prospect of losing power.
My informed friend sees parallels between Istanbul’s watershed election and South Africa’s in 2024. Erdogan leads a corrupted political party which has a poor grasp on the laws of economics. He faces a coalition with fresh ideas. Also, like the ANC, Erdogan is close to Vladimir Putin. Turkey’s opposition favours links with the West.
___STEADY_PAYWALL___For many in SA, political developments in Johannesburg over the past week revealed an opposition in disarray, its Moonshot Pact torn up before the ink had dried. The Turks, however, may be about to teach us that in politics, change is only impossible until it happens. Istanbul is on the cusp of a historic transition. SA, too, next year?
We’ve republished an excellent piece on the Turkish election from our partners at Bloomberg. Given the parallels, it’s a story South Africans need to watch. Closely.
Read more:
