Türkiye is gearing up for presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan facing a three-person competition. A new challenge for the incumbent leader who led his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to successive victories in two decades, the elections are viewed as a critical test for Türkiye. Erdoğan underlined this in a live television interview on Tuesday evening.

"This will be an election that will decide whether Türkiye will be a global playmaker or an extra," he said. "This will be an election that will decide whether the fight against terrorism will continue. But, unfortunately, judging by the stance and remarks of coalition partners, they are giving hope to terrorists," he said, referring to the opposition bloc of six parties.

Erdoğan stressed that it wouldn’t be an ordinary election in the interview broadcast by Kanal 7 and Ülke TV. "The public will vote for the prevalence of a climate of trust and stability or not. Will we continue the initiative for more services and projects as we did in the past 20 years, or will we go back to Türkiye of the yesteryear governed by coalitions? We face a structure seeking to claim all gains Türkiye achieved (in the past 20 years)," he said.

Under Erdoğan’s leadership, Türkiye moved to raise its profile in the international community. In recent years, it cemented its place in global affairs as a powerbroker, particularly during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It also led the voice of opposition to the United Nations’ current structure, calling for reforms in international affairs and giving more say to countries outside superpowers. In addition, it also strengthened the defense industry, relying on domestic products empowered the country, especially in security matters. Indeed, the government now boasts of minimizing the presence of terrorist groups within Turkish territories.

Erdoğan also said "terrorists" await the results of the elections. "We even see some buying plane tickets for returning to Türkiye," he said. Some members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) who fled the country amid a stream of terror charges shared photos of return tickets, voicing confidence that the opposition, which lost multiple elections to the AK Party, would win this time. The opposition bloc, in the meantime, hopes its united stance will be enough to outvote Erdoğan. It is the first time Erdoğan would confront a seemingly united bloc of parties sharing different ideologies. "We see supporters of the terrorist groups we expelled from the public sector even saying which public post they’d pick after the elections. They have the promise from (opposition bloc)," Erdoğan said in the interview.

The president noted that their strong and independent steps in foreign policy, the economy and the defense industry "disturbed some people." "Those who wait for Türkiye to return to the old days where it is burdened with foreign debt and forced to submit to other countries under this burden are waiting for May 14. They want those who would make Türkiye dependent on them again, in power," he said, referring to foreign powers. "Unfortunately, we have people here ready to submit themselves to others just to win the approval of the West. They openly say that they would hand over Türkiye’s policies and economy to certain powers once they come to power," he added. Erdoğan said they struggled to make Türkiye a country, implementing its policies in every field and strengthening the democracy, expanding rights and freedoms. "We ensured the supremacy of national will."