---
title: Rival presidential billboards, Istanbul, election day 2014
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/turkey-election-billboards-2014/
description: 'Street displays of three rival campaigns at Mecidiyeköy, Istanbul, on election day: Erdoğan''s billboard ''Add strength to Turkey''s strength,'' İhsanoğlu''s…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Rival presidential billboards, Istanbul, election day 2014](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/turkey-election-billboards-2014.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/turkey-election-billboards-2014.jpg)

# Rival presidential billboards, Istanbul, election day 2014

Street displays of three rival campaigns at Mecidiyeköy, Istanbul, on election day: Erdoğan's billboard 'Add strength to Turkey's strength,' İhsanoğlu's 'The pride of the Turkish nation,' and a Demirtaş banner 'Democratic change, peaceful Turkey.' The tell, shared by all three sides: strength, pride and change words stand in for a claim that could be tested.

- **Date:** August 10, 2014
- **Period:** [Contemporary](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=contemporary)
- **Made by:** Presidential campaigns of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu and Selahattin Demirtaş
- **Region:** [Middle East and North Africa](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=middle-east-north-africa)
- **Country:** [Turkey](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=turkey)
- **Medium:** [Signs and banners](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=sign-banner)
- **Issuer type:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=mixed)
- **Regime:** [Erdogan Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=erdogan-government)
- **Leader:** [Recep Tayyip Erdogan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=recep-tayyip-erdogan)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Theme:** [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics)
- **Event:** [2014 Turkish Presidential Election](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=2014-turkish-presidential-election)
- **Techniques:** [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2014_Turkish_Presidential_Election_campaign.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (U.S. government work, Voice of America) Osman Orsal / Voice of America, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

## Text on the object

Original (Turkish) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
TÜRKİYE'NİN
GÜCÜNE
GÜÇ KAT
[logo] ERDOĞAN
[B]ÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESİ

YENİ YAŞAM ÇAĞRISI
Demokratik Değişim,
Barışçı Türkiye
DEMİRTAŞ

TÜRK
MİLLETİNİN
GURURU
[illegible] EKMELEDDİN İHSANOĞ[cropped by passers-by]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
ADD STRENGTH TO TURKEY'S STRENGTH
ERDOĞAN
[B]ig-city municipality

A CALL TO A NEW LIFE
Democratic change, peaceful Turkey
DEMİRTAŞ

THE PRIDE OF THE TURKISH NATION
[illegible] EKMELEDDİN İHSANOĞ[LU]
```

The lower-left municipal line and the small line above the İhsanoğlu name are partly cut off by the frame or by passers-by; a faint background word on the Erdoğan billboard is not legible.

[← Russian Defence Ministry satellite image, MH17 briefing](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mh17-buk-briefing-image-2014/) ['Don't watch Russian! Russian kills!' Boycott Russian Cinema poster →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/russian-films-kill-boycott-poster-2014/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (0313 · Glittering generalities)
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- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Trois Tetes sous l'meme bonnet (three heads under the same cap)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trois-tetes-sous-le-meme-bonnet-1789/) (1789 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- [Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) (Nov 1, 1858 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating)
- [The Great Battle of Ansong Ford: The Valor of Captain Matsuzaki](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ansong-ford-toshikata-1894/) (1894 · Glittering generalities)
- ['The Congress Cross or "Swastik"' (Pickings from the Hindi Punch, Bombay, February 1896)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hindi-punch-congress-swastik-1896/) (Feb 1896 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Un combate en el río Zapote (A Fight on the Zapote River), Blanco y Negro](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/un-combate-en-el-rio-zapote-1898/) (Jul 9, 1898 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)