Erdogan’s AKP regains majority in Turkey

The second Parliamentary election in just five months has given a new overall majority to the AKP Justice and Development party. The party of Head of State Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

The party will go for its fourth term, after almost half of the citizens voted for them (49%). The party obtained 316 of Turkey's 550 seat parliament. However, it fell 14 seats short of the number needed to call a referendum on changing the constitution and increasing the powers of the president, AKP founder Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The pro-Kurdish party HDP lost more than 1 million votes and 20 seats, after weeks of unstability in Eastern Turkey, and violent clashes involving Kurdish rebels and the the government. The nationalist party MHP lost almost half of their seats

EVANGELICALS IN TURKEY

The Turkish society is going through challenging times. The refugees crisis, internal political violence and the threats of Daesh (IS) are escalating the tension in the country.

Evangelical Christians have also suffered the pressure of radical Islamism in a death threats campaign targeting churches and Protestant ministries. In an interview with Evangelical Focus, pastor Ihsan Özbek said “fear wil lnot control us”, and evangelicals “will continue what we have been doing and we are trying to find new opportunities.”

GOVERNMENT SHOULD FIGHT PREJUDICES AGAINST CHRISTIANS

After the last Parliamentary election in June, evangelical pastor Marc Madrigal said: “Christians in general are very pleased the AKP [Erdogan’s running party] has lost its majority in parliament. Most of them are hopeful to see some positive change happening. Many are happy to see the HDP [pro-Kurdish party] pass the 10% threshold and enter parliament as the HDP was the only party that did not have a nationalist discourse embracing all faiths and ethnicities including Christians.”

Now new election gives the majority back to the ruling party. But the Turkish Protestant Christians will keep asking their government to “fight prejudices, condemn wrongdoings and pass laws against hate crimes.”