Opposition Roadmap for Undoing Erdogan’s Legacy

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Türkiye’s main opposition alliance, greets his supporters during a rally ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections, in Tekirdag, Türkiye April 27, 2023. (Reuters)
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Türkiye’s main opposition alliance, greets his supporters during a rally ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections, in Tekirdag, Türkiye April 27, 2023. (Reuters)
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Opposition Roadmap for Undoing Erdogan’s Legacy

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Türkiye’s main opposition alliance, greets his supporters during a rally ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections, in Tekirdag, Türkiye April 27, 2023. (Reuters)
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, presidential candidate of Türkiye’s main opposition alliance, greets his supporters during a rally ahead of the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections, in Tekirdag, Türkiye April 27, 2023. (Reuters)

Türkiye’s multi-faceted opposition alliance wants to undo President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's two-decade legacy of highly centralized and religiously conservative rule.

Here is a look at its plan of action should it win next Sunday's parliamentary and presidential vote.

End 'one-man regime'

Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has portrayed his six-party alliance, which includes liberals, nationalists and religious conservatives, as a force for democratic change.

The 74-year-old former civil servant has pledged to "bring democracy to this country by changing the one-man regime".

The alliance vows to abandon the presidential system Erdogan introduced after winning a hard-fought constitutional referendum in 2017.

Instead, it wants lawmakers to elect a prime minister and for parliament to have oversight over ministries.

The president would be limited to a single seven-year term.

"Changing the political system will not be easy," said Bertil Oder, a professor of constitutional law at Istanbul's Koc University.

Such changes require a three-fifths majority in parliament, which the opposition will struggle to win on May 14, he pointed out.

Release prisoners

Kilicdaroglu says his first order of business will be to release some of the most high-profile opposition figures jailed under Erdogan.

These include the philanthropist Osman Kavala and the Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas, whose freedom has been long-sought by the West.

The opposition pledges to restore "independent and impartial" courts, which Erdogan stacked with allies after surviving a bloody coup attempt in 2016.

It also wants to revive freedom of expression and give independence to the media, now almost completely controlled by the government and its business allies.

"You will be able to criticize me very easily," Kilicdaroglu once quipped, pledging to abolish the criminal offence of "insulting the president".

Defend 'all women'

Representing the traditionally secular CHP party of Türkiye’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Kilicdaroglu has worked hard to gain the trust of religiously conservative women who wear the headscarf.

Kilicdaroglu has pledged to make the right to stay veiled in public guaranteed by law, to show he has no intention of reversing religious freedoms introduced by Erdogan.

"We will defend the rights of all women," Kilicdaroglu said, vowing to "respect everyone's beliefs, lifestyles and identities".

Kilicdaroglu also wants to rejoin the Istanbul Convention, a European treaty aimed at combating gender-based violence from which Türkiye withdrew under Erdogan's orders in 2021.

Restore economic orthodoxy

The opposition vows an immediate return to economic orthodoxy and a break with Erdogan's "Turkish economy model".

Erdogan's refusal to fight inflation by raising interest rates has sparked the worst economic crisis of his rule.

The official annual inflation rate touched 85 percent last year. Independent economists believe the real rate could have been twice as high, erasing gains of a new middle class created during Erdogan's first decade in power.

But a return to prosperity might take time, requiring the resuscitation of state institutions that became emaciated during Erdogan's era of centralized control.

"Whoever wins the election, Türkiye’s economy is unlikely to experience a quick recovery," said Erdal Alcin, a professor of international economics at Germany's Konstanz University.

Make peace

The opposition knows that Türkiye has irritated its NATO allies by forging a privileged relationship with Russia since 2016. It wants to restore trust with the West while maintaining a "balanced dialogue" with Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.

Ahmet Unal Cevikoz, the head of international relations in Kilicdaroglu's party, is also pushing for "full membership of the European Union", which has long remained on hold.

But the priority, said Cevikoz, is on reconciling with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- an essential condition for the "voluntary" return of 3.7 million Syrian refugees living in Türkiye.



‘Blink of an Eye’: Survivor Tells of Bangkok Skyscraper Collapse Horror

 Rescuers spray water to reduce dust in Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, March 29, 2025, while searching for victims at the site of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after Friday's earthquake. (AP)
Rescuers spray water to reduce dust in Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, March 29, 2025, while searching for victims at the site of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after Friday's earthquake. (AP)
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‘Blink of an Eye’: Survivor Tells of Bangkok Skyscraper Collapse Horror

 Rescuers spray water to reduce dust in Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, March 29, 2025, while searching for victims at the site of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after Friday's earthquake. (AP)
Rescuers spray water to reduce dust in Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, March 29, 2025, while searching for victims at the site of a high-rise building under construction that collapsed after Friday's earthquake. (AP)

A construction worker told Saturday how he cheated death when a Bangkok skyscraper collapsed "in the blink of an eye" after a massive earthquake hit Myanmar and Thailand.

Tearful family members gathered at the remains of the 30-storey building, which crumbled to rubble in just seconds on Friday, clinging to shreds of hope that their loved ones who were working when it fell might be found alive.

The tower was being built to house government offices when the quake struck, and construction worker Khin Aung told AFP how the building collapsed just after his brother had entered to start his shift.

"When my shift ended around 1:00 pm I went outside to get water and I saw my younger brother before I went out," he told AFP.

Tremors from the 7.7-magnitude quake centered in neighboring Myanmar -- where the ruling junta said at least 694 people had died -- hit Bangkok around 1:20 pm (0620 GMT), shaking the building.

"When I went outside, I saw dust everywhere and I just ran to escape from the collapsing building," Khin Aung said.

"I video-called my brother and friends but only one picked up the phone. But I can't see his face and I heard he was running.

"At that point the whole building was shaking but while I was on a call with him, I lost the call and the building collapsed."

Authorities say up to 100 workers may be trapped in the mass of rubble and twisted metal that is all that remains of the tower. At least five are confirmed dead but the toll is almost certain to rise.

"I can't describe how I feel -- it happened in the blink of an eye," said Khin Aung.

"All my friends and my brother were in the building when it collapsed. I don't have any words to say."

- Desperate relatives -

Bangkok's skyline is ever-changing, with buildings constantly torn down and shiny new skyscrapers thrown up.

The ceaseless reinvention is powered by an army of laborers, a huge proportion of whom are drawn from Myanmar by the prospect of regular work, a peaceful country and better wages than at home.

Many relatives of workers from Myanmar gathered at the site on Saturday hoping for news of the missing.

Khin Aung and his brother -- married with two children -- have been working in Bangkok for six months.

"I heard they sent 20 workers to hospital, but I don't know who are they and my friends and brother are among them," he said.

"I hope my brother and friends are in hospital. If they are at the hospital, I have hope. If they are under this building, there is no hope for them to survive."

Thai woman Chanpen Kaewnoi, 39, waited anxiously for news of her mother and sister, who were in the building when it went down.

"My colleague called and said she couldn't find my mum or my sister. I thought mum might have slipped and maybe my sister stayed to help her," she told AFP.

"I want to see them, I hope I can find them. I hope they will not be lost. I still have hope, 50 percent."

As distraught families waited for news, rescue workers pressed on with the delicate task of searching the ruins without triggering further collapses.