Turkish Backlash: Before, During and After the Vote

This weekend's elections in Turkey, which resulted in no party securing enough votes to form a government, have been touted as a significant moment in Turkish democracy. The vote saw the rise of minor and ethnic minority-based groups triggering demonstrations across the country. 

"Our nation's opinion is above everything else," Recap Tayyip Erdogan has said in his first statement following the surprise election result ending Erdogan’s decade long period of governance.

Calling for cooperation between the countries major parties, Erdogan urged leaders to be "careful to preserve the environment of confidence and stability".  

Erdogan’s AKP party remains in front with 41 percent, followed by the Republican People's Party (CHP) on 25 percent, the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party on 16.5 percent and the Kurdish-backed HDP securing 13 percent of the vote.

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan salutes supporters as he addresses an election rally ahead of the upcoming June 7, 2015 general election in Golbasi, Ankara, Turkey, Friday, June 5, 2015.

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Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu speaks to the media at a polling station in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, June 7, 2015.

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Backdropped by Turkish flags a supporter of Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (DHP) attends a rally in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey.

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A polling station official shows a ballot paper with the names of some of political parties that participated in nationwide election in a primary school in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, June 7, 2015.

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Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), delivers a speech from the top of his election campaign bus at a rally in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, June 6, 2015.

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A supporters of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party holds a baby as she waves Turkish flags in Istanbul,Turkey, late Sunday, June 7, 2015.

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A woman looks at a ballot paper at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Konya, Turkey, June 7, 2015.

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Supporters of Turkey's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

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Supporters wave Turkish national and party flags outside the AK Party headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, June 7, 2015

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A man reads a newspaper at a kiosk, featuring front-page coverage of Sunday's elections, in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, June 8, 2015.

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People walk in Istanbul's Eminonu district, Turkey, Monday, June 8, 2015.

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People walk in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, June 8, 2015, following national elections that resulted in the biggest swing against Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) since it first came to power in 2002.