FILE- In this file photo dated March 4, 2019, A woman walks past posters showing Binali Yildirim, left, the mayoral candidate for Istanbul of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) and the candidate of Republican People's Party (CHP), Ekrem Imamoglu, right, in Istanbul, ahead of local elections scheduled for March 31. For Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the local elections are not just a vote to decide who should collect the garbage and maintain roads, they are about Turkey's future national "survival." (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
March 29, 2019 - 12:50 AM
ANKARA, Turkey - For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Sunday's local elections are not just a vote to decide who should collect the garbage and maintain roads — they are about Turkey's future national "survival."
After 17 years in office, the Turkish leader has a tight grip on power, but he is campaigning hard for a strong mandate that he says he needs to protect Turkey against threats from domestic and foreign enemies and to press ahead with military operations against Kurdish militants inside Turkey as well as in Syria and Iraq.
Analysts say the rhetoric is aimed at diverting attention away from rising inflation, a sharp increase in food prices and high unemployment that has hit his traditional low-income voter base particularly hard.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019