Last year, on 22nd of July, voters of Turkey used their legitimate right by voting for the political party with good intentions by trusting the goodwill of the politicians. Expectations of masses were generally “no army de coup, no Sheri at (Islamic law)” and this dream was the main theme of the meetings of Cumhuriyet (Republic) in the most cosmopolitan cities; Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Millions of people, only with Turkish flags, by criticizing the governing party; Justice and Development Party, were marching on the roads with no violence at all but only dreams of a better Turkey. There were millions of people who did not attend to those meetings and who approved the politics of the current government. These differences in the way that people were thinking, in a way, was the symbol of the democracy and both sides of the country, supporting AKP or not, were expecting politicians to get rid of their main concerns about the secularism and create a successful Turkey in economy, internal and foreign politics, good quality of education and social security.
Finally on 22nd of July, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) got %47 of the whole votes. There is no doubt that this was a victory of AK Party, but it remained to be the last victory at the same time. At the end, the power Erdogan got in his hands seems to turn him into a “tiran” just as the Financial Times stated in recent issue of the newspaper.
Erdogan is accused to lead the country into a more Islamic direction. Well, for the ones living in the country, this is not hard to realize if one is following the current news. In many districts of the Turkey, there have been serious attempts of the city majors to ban the alcohol consumption in the restaurants, while “Islamic tourism” with alcohol free lifestyle opening their doors to their visitors every single day. Especially, in the second term of Justice and Development Party, it seems that Erdogan started to think that he has the total power and able to do what ever he desires without considering the current constitution.
On presidential elections of the country, Erdogan did not prefer to apply use the methods of consensus but he choose to decide for “who will be the president” rather than asking the preferences of the other main political parties represented in the parliament such as CHP (Republican People’s Party) and MHP (Nationalist Movement Party). He assigned his close friend and also one of the main founders of the Justice and Development Party Abdullah Gul as the president. Certainly, it has been voted by the parliament but the communication problem started by Mr.Erdogan’s ignorance about the desires of other parties for a neutral candidate for the presidential elections.
There can be well said that all these huge discussions of today are rooted in the presidential elections. In the hot debates of the political parties in 2008, we have seen that Abdullah Gul as the president of Turkey was so away from being a neutral middle man between AK Party and the main opposition party CHP According to the news of Hurriyet and Milliyet which are known as the respected news sources of Turkey, he also proved this reputation by meeting secretly far from the eyes of journalist –at least they aimed to do so- with Mr.Erdogan on 29th of July in an apartment for five hours. This was not an official meeting and the meeting place was just an ordinary apartment in Istanbul. How come the President of Turkey preferred taking a side from his old friend Mr.Erdogan on the day that Constitutional Court started to overview the indictment for the closure of Justice and Development Party? Was it fair, both politically, and ethically? Or was it a proof of the suspicions of Mr.Gul to be “hidden supporter” of Mr.Erdogan and not being able to perform a neutral presidential mandate.
At the end, Gul failed to balance the high waves of the political discussions in Turkey and heated debates on secularism and the accusations and suspicions on AK Party’s hidden agenda in order to turn Turkey into a “conservative Islamist Republic” brought the whole country on the edge of heaven and hell. In this long discussion, one more time, it has been seen that Presidential seat should have been taken by someone who could gain the trust of the majority of people and supported by all the political parties, someone more capable to bring the two diverse edges together around the same table. Someone who could call himself as a neutral person, not in the side of Erdogan, but in the side of consensus in Turkey.
It seems that the hot debates in Turkey on secular system will continue for many years, since still millions of people still carries the honour of being the democratic country with a majority of Muslim population in the world as a golden medal and still have the concerns about the intention of Mr.Erdogan and Justice & Development Party. Consensus is the only way out in country, but understanding the concerns, not paving the ways of ignorance.
Gokhan KURTARAN
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