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LEADING ARTICLE

Neither Free nor Fair

Erdogan has silenced all opposition to ensure victory in Turkey’s coming elections

The Times

Turkey’s election campaign began at the weekend with a barnstorming performance by President Erdogan, who mocked his opponents, appealed to nationalists by denouncing the European Union and threatened retribution against any remaining sympathisers with the failed 2016 military coup.

No one doubts that Mr Erdogan, in power as prime minister and president for the past 15 years, will win a landslide victory. Thin-skinned, bombastic and increasingly intolerant of any opposition, he has made sure that no one else can win. He called next month’s election more than a year early, to mire the opposition in disarray and ensure that he can take full advantage of the state of emergency, declared in July 2016 and repeatedly renewed, to impose the curbs on campaigning, the press and