Ottomans enter Turkish elections race, stoking social media

ISTANBUL

Weeks after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “16 Turkish warriors” hit international headlines, several candidates have launched Ottoman-themed campaigns to be nominated for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

For his campaign under the motto "All Together, New Turkey," Osman Yavuz, an AKP electoral candidate nominee in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, wore a börk, a piece headgear worn by Seljuk warriors and the first Ottoman sultans in the 14th century. The börk has recently become familiar to the Turkish public again, thanks to a TV drama about the era.


The AKP’s self-nominated Ankara candidate Cihangir Tahir, meanwhile, went even further by adding an Ottoman-style moustache to his costume.


Nalan Aktaş, a self-nominated AKP candidate from Istanbul, is so far the only female political hopeful whose attire attracted attention on social media for its “historical” resonance.


Many social media users mocking the AKP’s latest sartorial trend responded sarcastically, with mock campaign materials for fake candidates, such as one claiming his place “in the race to win public tenders” wearing an Ottoman fez.