Why didn't Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu get as many votes as expected in the first round?

I really wonder why Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu's promises to the pious voters did not pass in these elections?

However, he said halalization, he even brought the headscarf back to the agenda in a meaningless way.

Moreover, he opened his kitchen to this nation and everyone said how much he was one of us.

In terms of state experience, we can even say that he is the most experienced politician. 

His calm nature, his positive outlook on life, his unifying rhetoric and actions are all sufficient qualities for him to be the perfect president for this nation.

Even his march for justice was a proof of how determined he is. 

The first thing that immediately comes to mind is the press card in the hands of the government. 

Most of the print and broadcast media are pro-government. In this media, Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu cannot find enough space for himself.

I can understand this. Naturally, what is out of sight is out of mind.

It is an interesting social behavior that this segment of the society follows only the pro-government media. 

But I guess this is not the only reason.

After all, no matter how much the media is controlled by the government, the opposition press is also available on another button of the TV remote control. Those who wish can take a look at these channels as well.

But for some reason people don't watch those opposition channels.

For example, even I cannot say that I watch the opposition channels. 

I usually watch whatever I want on the internet. 

Okay, even if I sometimes glance at the pro-government channels, I immediately say no, there is no need to watch these channels. 

Because either I feel a lot of subliminal messages in the programs on pro-government channels or there are programs on these channels that really don't interest me most of the time.

I don't like TV series either. 

In our house, it is mostly the wife who is interested in TV series, and since she doesn't understand Turkish, she watches them on the internet with Russian translations. Naturally, she has to follow most of the series a bit behind.

As I said, I am not interested in soap operas or biased broadcasts, so if I am going to watch live broadcasts, I prefer to watch discussion programs.  

Debate programs also interest me much more on channels with opposing views.

Even on such channels, I can say that I can't stand the fact that some guests always play a certain tune when they pick up the instrument.

After all, neither the debate programs on opposition channels are real debate programs, nor those on pro-government channels. 

Both of them keep examining the issues from their own perspectives like a stale rice pilaf.

So, aren't there any channels that discuss the issues with an unbiased eye?

Believe me, there are very few. 

The ones that do, sometimes allow the excitement to rise in the programs for the sake of ratings, and I don't like these heated discussions at all. I turn it off immediately in such cases.

In the end, a little bit here and there, with the advantage of being able to watch any program you want, whenever you want, provided by the internet, I try to be a little bit aware of the Turkish agenda.

I can guess that this perspective on the media is not shared by the majority of the public. 

Because I think that in most households, when a channel is switched on, and if there is a TV series on that channel that is of interest, for example, only that channel is watched by the family. 

When a certain period of time passes in this way, I think a large part of the society doesn't want to watch anything else anymore. They get used to the propaganda of the government, they become almost addicted to it. 

The sociology of the society has been somehow changed by the government in all these years. 

It seems that it is not that easy to go back to the factory settings.

In order for opposition channels to be watched, I think these channels need to produce programs that will attract people's attention.

But such programs can only be produced with really big money. 

Naturally, most of the opposition channels prefer to show either a cheap TV series, or they only show discussion programs that don't cost much money. But the viewers of these discussion programs are usually those who live in echo chambers.

So far I have tried to convey my thoughts on the general state of the media, albeit in a little too much detail.

Well, you may say that the media is not the only way to explain yourself to the public. 

Don't you have a chance to reach voters in other ways?

Of course there is, the Welfare Party found a way to do this in its time. 

I think the AK Party used the same method for a long time. Maybe this method may still be practiced.

This method can be summarized as reaching every single household through the ladies.

While having a cup of tea with the owner of the house, perhaps giving a gift or some aid packages organized on a larger scale, all the while making party propaganda to the fullest. 

I guess it is not difficult to win the favor of a pious visitor and the lady of the house whose general opinion is closer to the conservative side. 

Yes, this method requires a certain amount of financial resources. 

If you have state resources at your disposal, or if you have established a certain donation mechanism, especially from some commercial relations such as contracting services, it is not difficult to find that financing.

But is this fair? 

Who cares about justice if the aim is to achieve the goal. 

The situation is not very different for the gentlemen. When the same propaganda is carried out in mosques, gentlemen also become supporters of the government. Moreover, when the husband comes home in the evening and asks his wife for information about the day's visits and gifts, you have nothing to do. 

They become fanatical supporters of the government.

Now, you cannot convince that voter to vote for you even if you make a lot of noise. 

No matter what promises you make, none of them will mean anything to them.

Because the logic is this: 

The bird in the hand? The bird in the hand or the bird on the branch? 

I think most of us will say the bird in the hand in answer to this question.

The bird in the hand is those gift packages. The bird in the hand is the job opportunity that party membership brings to your child. With the bird in the hand, no one is interested in the bird on the branch.

Nevertheless, let's continue with our topic.

The state of the economy is obvious, the government is unable to govern the country and the cost of living is negatively affecting everyone, no matter which segment of society they belong to.

Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu says he will fix this situation.

He even has direct promises to pensioners, direct promises to those who lost their homes in the earthquake cities. Even for civil servant salaries, he promises that they will be two and a half times the minimum wage. He has made many promises in this election campaign that the people will like.

He told these promises not only to the media but also to the people gathered at his rallies.

Everyone must have come to those rallies wondering what he would say. 

Okay, they may be civil servants, or people associated with the AK Party, they may not want to be seen there, at opposition rallies.

Nevertheless, those promises were displayed on billboards as big election advertisements in front of everyone's eyes.

In other words, we can say that a large part of the public learned about Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu's promises in one way or another.

However, if we look at the results of the elections, we realize that at least half of the people did not believe what they were told. 

Why do you think this happens?

Even if the voters who are angry with Mr. Erdoğan still vote for him in the election, they send a message by decreasing the party's votes. But in any case, Mr. Erdoğan has more or less preserved his vote potential.

Why can't Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu convince these pious and nationalist voters?

Moreover, he has gathered around him the representatives of the pious and he is in alliance with the IYI Party, which we can say is the representative of the nationalists.

The team is also solid, at least it is certain that this team can solve the economy and turn Turkey around.

Why don't people believe in Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu? Why don't people believe in this team? Why don't people even vote for parties that claim to have pious voters?

Because Mr. Erdoğan has some frames about himself, even if they are sometimes fake, he has a polarizing language as an expert in winning elections, and most importantly, there is a Kurdish electorate that supports Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu in the elections.

According to the government's policy, Kurdish voters are marginalized. 

Yes, six million voters vote for the HDP, or YSP as it is now called, which has not been able to get rid of being an ethnic party, but unfortunately it does not differentiate itself from the terrorist organization with a precise language and uses this situation in its election propaganda for Mr. Erdoğan.

You cannot call six million people terrorists, but he does!

Moreover, he has the audacity to equate Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu and the national alliance with those who are one with terrorism.

***

Dear friends of Kurdish origin, perhaps you naturally see these parties as your representatives. 

Perhaps you support these parties with very innocent feelings.

But unfortunately, when you look at it from here, your choice seems to be the wrong choice.

From the point of view of Turkey in general, with what it has done in the past, with its inability to distance itself from the terrorist organization even today, unfortunately this party is considered a separatist party, it is seen as such.

Yes, you are right, perhaps this country has done great injustices to the region in the past, more services should have been brought to the region, perhaps there were practices of the state that denied Kurdish existence.

But remember, this country is not divided into Turks and Kurds! 

This country is not ethnically divided in any way. 

We are a nation state and the structure of the state is unitary.

In nation states, every citizen, regardless of ethnicity, is a citizen of that state with equal rights. 

Yes, in unitary states, the state has a single language, the language used in education, in government offices is one and that language is Turkish. 

The state has a single flag and all citizens live on a single homeland with the dream of a common future.

If you don't digest this, if you don't dream of a common future together, any ethnically based party will be seen as a separatist party.

That is why the party you voted for unfortunately looks like this from the outside.

Therefore, for a large part of the society, your support for Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu puts him in a completely different place with Mr. Erdoğan's black election propaganda.

Therefore, even if Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu is a man of his word, because of the government's poisonous propaganda, a certain part of the society is hesitant to support him. 

Fears about the disintegration of the state play a big role here.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu's suggestion to talk about everything under the roof of the parliament during his party visit is not heard at all by the ruling electorate due to the state of the media, as I wrote above.

***

Above all, Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu is a candidate who will not be accepted by the ruling electorate because of some mistakes he made in his time.

One of these mistakes was the CHP's rejection of the Syria thesis. I have to say that for me, this was a mistake that was not going to happen.

Even though Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu tried to explain that we rejected it because foreign forces were also allowed in the Syria thesis, this explanation is not only insincere, but it is also publicly considered to be an inadequate excuse. The more valid reason is that the intention was to look cute for the HDP.

Of course, the mistakes do not stop there. 

The inadequate reaction from within the party to the statements on Libya and Azerbaijan, as well as the CHP's senseless stance of "don't go into Afrin" during the operations in Syria are recognized as major mistakes in the eyes of the public.

These issues were the prominent themes of the government's election propaganda.

The fact that Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu has not been able to solve Mr. Erdoğan's electoral genius in all these elections and that he is still sitting in the chairmanship of the CHP despite being defeated in the elections all these years is naturally seen as another problem. 

I should say that this situation caused some of the CHP's own voters to shift to the IYI Party and especially the nationalist wing did not volunteer enough in the party organizations.

It is as if Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu should either win the elections and leave the chairmanship of the party, or if he is defeated this time as well, the dominant view is that this chair is no good for him anyway.

One of the reasons for the lack of success in the elections, and even the failure to obtain a majority in the parliamentary elections, was the "candidate to be elected" discourse that was on the lips of the IYI Party. 

Underneath this discourse, there was a reference to Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu's world of faith, as well as to his other mistakes, which I have briefly mentioned above. 

First and foremost, his soft and always calm attitude. 

In short, the IYI Party was saying that you cannot be a candidate to be elected and this discourse was somehow engraved in the minds of many members of the society. 

Especially those who were closer to the nationalist view held on to this discourse and refrained from voting for him even in the first round of elections. 

If all the votes given to Mr. Oğan had been given to Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu, I think it would have been possible to win the election by a hair's breadth.

However, since not all of Mr. Oğan's votes belonged to the national alliance, the equation is not that simple.

Young people! 

Especially the young voters who voted for the first time in this election did not find Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu dynamic enough. 

These voters were dreaming of a younger, more dynamic candidate. Perhaps Mr. İmamoğlu was the ideal candidate for this electorate.

Maybe that is why they preferred to vote for Mr. Oğan.

In the end, even though Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu tried to establish a channel of communication with young people, I think his efforts were insufficient. 

The protest votes either went to Mr. Oğan or these voters reacted in their own way by casting invalid votes.

I could go on and on, but I think I have touched on all the main issues.

So do you think Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu has a chance in the second round?

Frankly speaking, I would like him to have a chance. I think many opposition voters share my opinion.

Everyone is now thinking about what needs to be done after this time. There is a voice from every head on the screens.

The opposition is in a state of shock because they did not expect this result and they still have not gotten over that shock. I touched upon this issue in one of my previous articles.

In particular, the new parties that broke away from the Ak Parti, which were thought to bring votes from the pious wing, and the Saadet Party, an old and well-established party, apparently had very low voting rates.

In addition, the fact that these parties were able to get more deputies into the parliament seems to have already started to create a negative atmosphere for CHP voters in their view of these parties.

In this regard, Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu is directly blamed by the party base.

Although this issue is not openly voiced for the time being, it is certain that the cards will be shuffled again in the CHP, including the party presidency, after a possible failed second round.

I personally don't think there will be anything left as an alliance.

Even Ms. Meral's seat will probably be in a shaky position.

Of course, I don't even want to think about the negative effects of such an outcome on our future.

The issue seems to be looking at gathering all the power and taking a final sprint in this last straight. 

In order to do this, it will be essential for the voters to go to the ballot box once again. 

Whoever can convince more voters to go to the polls for the second round will have a better chance for the second round.

These days, analyzes are being made on the screens about the voters who did not participate in the elections. I think these analyses are futile, because I think there has already been a very high turnout in these elections. 

And the youth, let's see if Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu can convince the youth in this short period of time.

I think Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu finally had the courage to appear on Oğuzhan Uğur's program. 

Let's see if he can create a positive atmosphere in this program, maybe he can really win over the youth.

We will wait and see.

Really, my only expectation from this election is the hope for a good future, but as I see what the government is doing, I personally have some doubts about the future. I don't even want to express what is going through my mind.

Let me end this article by saying that I hope that the second round of elections will be to everyone's liking.

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow