Striding across the stage, microphone in hand, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan led his assembled supporters on a grand historical journey.
Starting with the first Turkic nomads who pitched their tents on the Anatolian steppe, he swept through centuries of Ottoman rule and the founding of the modern Turkish republic.
He lingered on the formation of his Justice and Development party (AKP) — which he portrayed as the champion of ordinary Turks — and its first 16 years in power. Finally, he reached the purpose of the gathering at a sports hall in a suburb of Istanbul: the launch of his manifesto for elections that are now just weeks away.
“Every one of the 12 elections we have won so far has been vitally important,” Mr Erdogan told the crowd. But the June 24 polls were a “milestone,” he said, promising that after them Turkey’s dreams of “rearing up and resurging” on the world stage would become a reality.
The presidential and parliamentary polls come at a pivotal time for Turkey. The country’s economy is under stress and relations with western allies are strained. Mr Erdogan is accused by critics of adopting a divisive, increasingly authoritarian style of leadership.
If he secures five more years in office next month, the nation’s governance will be transformed. The parliamentary system established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s founding father, will be replaced by an executive presidency that puts unprecedented power in Mr Erdogan’s hands.
Though the opposition might snigger at Mr Erdogan’s claim that victory would mean “more democracy, more freedom, more growth”, all parties agree on the significance of the upcoming vote. Muharrem Ince, the presidential candidate for the opposition Republican People’s party (CHP), has described it as “an election between those on the side of democracy and those who support a one-man regime”.
Victory for the populist Mr Erdogan would consolidate the dramatic changes to the social, political and economic fabric of the nation that he has overseen during a decade and a half at the helm.