Erdoğan Re-Elected for Third Term Transcript

Last night after 20 years in power, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won yet again, fending off the most muscular challenge his long reign has ever faced. But if this close contest was cause for humility, Erdoğan answered with hubris. Moments after pledging to unite his divided nation, Erdoğan lashed his defeated opponents, calling them terrorists and attacking their pro LGBT rhetoric. "In our culture, family is sacred" he said, "No one can interfere. We will strangle anyone who dares to touch it." Supporters of the president flooding the streets of Istanbul, those crowds sent running for cover when a celebratory firework misfired. Yesterday's victory gives Erdoğan another five years to challenge American foreign policy in the Middle East and Europe, where he's long played east against west. Even as a NATO member, Erdoğan has defended Russia's Vladimir Putin. (00:56) Erdoğan gets up and blasts the United States and the West all the time. Does that play well here?

Yeah, it plays well.

It does.

It does.

Demonizing the west, why?

Demonizing the west. I don't know. Quite a significant percentage of citizens of Turkey believe that the West doesn't like Turkey, they don't help Turkey.

Still, Western leaders, including President Joe Biden, were quick to congratulate Erdoğan last night, reflecting his indispensable role in global diplomacy. But at home, he now has years to further tighten his already substantial grip on Turkey's government and media, policies his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, vowed to reverse. Kilicdaroglu didn't contest last night's results, but called the vote unfair. But throughout the country yesterday, polling was orderly. (01:41) This is just a presidential runoff election. So the voters just get one choice, Erdoğan versus Kemal Kilicdaroglu, continuity or change. (01:50) But many Turks saw continuity as a vote for political stagnation, autocracy and economic ruin. For young people I spoke to in Ankara, there's only one issue on the ballot, the economy, specifically sky high inflation they blamed on Erdoğan's unorthodox monetary policies. (02:07) What are young people like you looking for this election?

From what I hear from my friends, they don't like the job salaries, et cetera, and my friends think that they are not going to do well in Turkey and they're looking forward to go abroad to Europe and so on.

But for many, particularly conservative Muslims, Erdoğan is tried and tested.

He is the only hope for our country, so we know he's already over 20 years. He is a proven candidate.

Matt Bradley joins us now from Ankara Turkey. Matt, you mentioned the economy as a big issue looming over Erdoğan's campaign, but the other major crisis Turkey face, less than four months ago was that catastrophic earthquake that killed 50,000 people. You were there reporting on the ground, saw a lot of the anger up close. Some people thought that might hurt Erdoğan's chances at winning here, but how did that play out? Was that a factor?

Yeah, Alison, you know, I was there. The anger was palpable. It was real because folks were very angry that Erdoğan had actually sped through and offered amnesty to a lot of the flawed buildings that ended up collapsing during that catastrophic earthquake that you just mentioned. But the fact is, at the end of the day, this was still Erdoğan heartland in the South and in the center of the country, so despite the tragedy, despite the incredible anger and discontent that was directed at this government, it still just didn't breach the political realities of this country. It didn't bend any of the just prevailing notions and ideologies that exist in the geography here. You can see that in the United States too. This is an urban, rural divide, and it's one that really dictates the policies in this country. That part of the country was always going to go for Erdoğan regardless of what happened, Alison.