Selman Deveci, a chef working his shift at a café in the Turkish city of Konya, voiced what an increasing number of voters were whispering in the region that had been a stronghold for President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an: “I want change.”
“They’ve screwed the economy,” Deveci said of the rampant inflation and plummeting lira that had taken a heavy toll on people’s finances. The erosion of basic rights and freedoms in Turkey and a system of government that concentrates power in the president’s hands have also turned him away from Erdo?an.
And yet Deveci can find few reasons to instead vote for the six-party opposition coalition forged with the aim of unseating the longtime leader in next month’s elections. “I don’t have faith in them,” he said.