Turkey's local elections, which will be held on March 31, are not just a vote for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to decide who should collect the garbage and maintain roads — they are about Turkey’s future national “survival,” AP reported.

After 17 years in office, the Turkish leader has a tight grip on power, but he is persistently campaigning for a strong mandate, which he says is necessary to protect Turkey from threats from internal and foreign enemies and to continue military action against Kurdish militants in Turkey and also in Syria and Iraq.

Analysts say that the rhetoric aims to divert attention from rising inflation, a sharp rise in food prices and high unemployment, which has hit the traditional low-income voters base particularly hard.