"If one day our nation says 'enough,' then we will step aside," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech in parliament on Tuesday. 

In a classic example of “be careful what you wish for”, opposition seized the moment and took to social media to call for the president to step down. #TAMAM, meaning “enough” became one of the worldwide trending topics on Twitter just hours after Erdogan’s statement and remains on the top of the list in Turkish social media up to now. More than a million Turks, media figures and Hollywood stars flooded the platform with almost two million tweets to tell the leader “enough is enough” as well as to criticize the country’s ruling AK party. 

#DEVAM, on the other hand, the hashtag created by Erdogan supporters and means “go on” in Turkish, only reached less than 300,000 tweets in the same period. 

The clash between the opposing campaigns has been called “one of the largest political hashtag wars in internet history” by Prof. Akin Unver, a fellow of Cyber Research Program at the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Research.

The most popular – and divisive – politician in Turkish modern history, Erdogan ruled Turkey as prime minister then president for 15 years. Though faced with hostility on the Aegean coast, some Kurdish areas and parts of Istanbul and Ankara, Erdogan still enjoys popularity in the Anatolian core of Turkey for giving the country sustained economic growth and foreign policy influence.   

He is also widely criticized by opposition and Western allies for being an authoritarian leader and his government’s crackdown on dissidents. Erdogan said, however, that Turkish people “had always given the right response to those who sought to destroy him”, referring to the failed 2016 coup. 

Last month, he declared snap elections for June 24, pulling the polls forward for more than a year from November 2019. Confident that he will win, Erdogan said: “God willing, I believe we will, together with our nation, on June 24 once again give a well-deserved lesson to this team of destruction.” 

Responding to speculations on whether he would really leave the government if he loses in the election. "Our nation made us the Istanbul Mayor, the leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the prime minister and the president. If they say 'enough' then we would step aside," he said. 

Meanwhile, all major opposition presidential candidates were also quick to join the bandwagon. Muharrem Ince, presidential candidate of opposition Republican People’s Party posted saying “time’s up” for Erdogan. 

The “Tamam” tweets also made Turkey's opposition parties, including pro-Kurdish opposition, unite to prevent another Erdogan term.

“Enough: It’s very strange that Erdogan has offered the opposition a uniting slogan,” tweeted journalist Rusen Cakir.

Since Turkey's tradiditional media are known for being pro-Erdogan and his government, social media has become the primary platform for opposition against the government in the country. But the government was quick to dismiss the Twitter campaign and said people behind the tweets were “keyboard heroes”. It went on to say that the online bots were associated with Kurdish PKK fighters, who have been waging a war against the Turkish government for autonomy; and Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Muslim religious leader blamed for the failed 2016 coup attempt. 

"The keyboard heroes who don't know what the ballot boxes mean, we will see each other on the night of June 24," said Mahir Unal, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling AK Party, on Twitter. 

Erdogan supporters later rivaled the “Tamam” tweets with hashtag #Devam (Go on!). 

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu used the hashtag to claim the government "will carry on with our blessed cause for a more prosperous and powerful Turkey." 

The June election will usher in a new presidential system in which the elected president will have executive powers for the first time as approved in a referendum last year.