REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, ISTANBUL - Turks voted in their country's first presidential election on Sunday with Tayyip Erdogan (60 years) poised to win and fulfill his dream of what he calls a "new Turkey" and what his opponents say will be an increasingly authoritarian nation.
A victory for Erdogan would seal his place in history after more than a decade as prime minister in which Turkey has emerged as a regional economic power, riding a wave of religiously conservative support to transform the secular republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.
But his critics warn that a President Erdogan, with his roots in political Islam and intolerance of dissent, would lead the NATO member and European Union candidate further away from Ataturk's secular ideals.
In a tea house in the working-class Istanbul district of Tophane, men watching election coverage on television praised Erdogan as a pious man of the people who had boosted Turkey's status both economically and on the international stage.
"Erdogan is on the side of the underdog. He is the defender against injustice. While the Arab world was silent, he spoke out against Israel on Gaza," said Murat, 42, a jeweler, who declined to give his family name.
"This country was ruined by the old politicians. They lied to us. They caused economic crises, the PKK violence," he said. Erdogan has opened a peace process with Kurdish PKK militants to end a conflict which has killed 40,000 people in 30 years.
Polling stations opened at 8 am local time with 53 million Turks eligible to vote. Voting ends at 5 pm. The voting turnout, which exceeded 89 percent in March local elections, appeared to be low, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observer George Tsereteli told reporters.
Opinion polls put Erdogan far ahead of two rivals competing for a five-year term as president. Parliament has in the past chosen the head of state but this was changed under a law pushed through by Erdogan's government.
He has set his sights on serving two presidential terms, keeping him in power past 2023, the 100th anniversary of the secular republic. For a leader who refers frequently to Ottoman history in his speeches, the date has special significance.
A rapturous crowd cheered and chanted "Turkey is proud of you" and "President Erdogan" as he emerged from a school where he voted with his wife and children on the Asian side of Istanbul. He waved and shook people's hands.
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