Turkey heading towards elections
by Tulu Gümüştekin
by Tulu Gümüştekin Mar 18, 2014 12:00 am
Only a couple of weeks before the municipal elections, Turkey is experiencing a very harsh political debate illustrated by the mass demonstrations of crowds attending the funerals of two young men killed during the social turmoil.
One of them, a youngster of only 15 years, was shot by a gas canister to the head and remained in a coma for more than six months before passing away. The other one, a young 22-year-old man returning from military service, was killed in cold blood while watching the crowds disperse from the youngster's funeral.
An infamous terrorist faction, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C), has claimed responsibility for the murder. This is the same group that was responsible for the 1996 assassination of Özdemir Sabancı, one of Turkey's finest businessmen, along with his general manager and secretary. For most Turks in their late 40s or older, such names and events are a disturbing reminder of the urban terrorism of the 1970s, which abruptly ended with the coup d'etat of 1980. The military takeover at that point was largely supported by an exhausted population after seven years of unpunished and unstoppable street violence and terrorist assassinations. It became evident after twenty years that the military willingly let the situation fester and failed to intervene and stop the left- or right-wing terrorism so that it could take power and establish an extremely conservative, centralized and repressive regime.
We are still attempting - not always successfully - to free ourselves of the stranglehold created by the Sept. 12, 1980 Constitution.
But the Turkey of 2014, as well as the world generally, is totally different from what it used to be 34 years ago. There is no popular support whatsoever for the idea of a non-democratically elected government.
No politician has voiced a need to continue the political struggle by means other than democratic functioning. This last declaration does not include some nationalist parliamentarians of the main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), who have accused and insulted the Turkish Armed Forces of being "a tiger made of paper."
The fact that democratic elections will be held as usual on March 30, 2014 does not hinder the fact that there is too much tension within the society. The tension has been continuously fuelled by illegal recordings and documents with dubious authenticity leaked via social media, and opposition parties using them to further their own agenda. It is obvious today that the Gülen Movement is waging a war against the government, but more precisely against Prime Minister Erdoğan. It is virtually impossible for the Gülen Movement, as well as for the opposition parties, to dethrone the ruling AK Party through democratic elections.
They therefore focus all their attacks on the prime minister in order to divide the party and create a political vacuum. As a very gifted politician, the prime minister understands the strategy very well and is focusing the entire election campaign on himself.
The electoral campaign has turned into a vote of confidence for the prime minister, rather than being centered on local issues.
The outcome of the elections is already evident: The AK Party will take first place, and the prime minister has already declared that if his party comes in second he will resign and leave politics altogether. A safe bet would be to say that he will remain in power after the coming election and most likely after the two other upcoming elections too.
However, there is too much tension within the society and too violent a rhetoric is being made commonplace for political discourse, which should certainly be assuaged as soon as possible. There is a very easy solution for those people who wish to accede to power: establish a political movement and gain the support of voters. It would place every political tendency on an equal level of responsibility and normalize the democratic functioning.
Last Update: Mar 18, 2014 2:04 am
40th Camel Wrestling Festival in Turkey's Selçuk