The Guardian: Totalitarian tyrant or trusted leader? Turkish vote split on Erdogan

Published June 25, 2018 at 1:59 pm

Turkish President and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdogan (2ndR) and his wife Emine Erdogan (R) leave after casting their ballots at a polling station during snap twin Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections in Istanbul on June 24, 2018. Turks began voting in dual parliamentary and presidential polls seen as the President's toughest election test, with the opposition revitalised and his popularity at risk from growing economic troubles.

Photo by AFP

Yaşar Ayhan used to be Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s barber when the Turkish president was still mayor of Istanbul. A photograph of them together still hangs in Ayhan’s shop in the Kasimpaşa district where Erdoğan grew up.

Ayhan, 52, last saw the president at a breakfast during Ramadan. His hair was thinner, he said, burdened as he is by Turkey’s myriad challenges. “I voted for Tayyip Erdoğan,” he said. “We are proud of him. He’s not only a leader, but a world leader.”