Erdogan’s Latest Gamble Backfires in Istanbul Vote

The desperation to win Istanbul once again forced President Erdogan to embrace the imprisoned PKK leader to use his influence over Kurds. But it spectacularly backfired.

PKK’s founder and honorary leader Abdullah Ocalan (L) serves his life sentence in Imrali, a prison island in the Marmara Sea.

For months preceding the March 31 municipal elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his…