SELF-DETERMINATION HAS CONSEQUENCES:

After more than a decade of being defeated by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party at the polls, Turkey's opposition sees a strong chance to beat the president in early elections in June.

Buoyed by opinion polls that indicate Erdogan would struggle to reach more than 50% of the vote June 24 and win the presidential election in the first round, opposition parties have thrown themselves into a flurry of talks about possible alliances.

In political constellations unusual for Turkey, the talks brought together secularists, Islamists and nationalists bent on preventing Erdogan from winning a new 5-year term with vastly expanded executive powers. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the first round, the two highest finishing contenders would face a July 8 run-off.

Preparations for the elections included extraordinary political manoeuvres. In a move that enraged Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) had 15 of its lawmakers in parliament join the nationalist Iyi (Good) Party to give the newly formed Iyi enough deputies to take part in the election. The AKP, in power since 2002, could lose its majority in parliamentary elections, also scheduled for June 24, some polls indicate.

"There is a sense of hope and optimism within the opposition that is new," Washington-based Turkey analyst Selim Sazak said in an interview. "People feel like they might finally have a viable pathway to defeating Erdogan."

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