ANKARA, Turkey — Turks are intrigued by what will happen March 31 when they elect new town councils. Rarely have municipal elections been so important. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has addressed a rally in a different city every day this week, and we are still four and a half weeks from polling day.
The reason is simple: the polls are a referendum on Erdogan and this time, with the economy in the doldrums, the opposition is believed to have a better-than-ever chance of humiliating the president.