Unfortunately, November 1’s snap national election results put Turkish democracy, cultural vitality and Ataturk’s legacy at risk. That impasse obliged the prime minister to ask the president to call a new election.
Advertisement
Erdogan obliged; many believe that the president wanted – and perhaps encouraged – Davutoglu to fail in those negotiations so that another ballot would be required. Technically, the AKP is no longer Mr. Erdogan’s party, as the presidency is supposed to be politically neutral, but it is no secret that he is counting on a strong AKP to concentrate power in his presidency now that he can no longer be prime minister. “It is being considered as a useful model for Turkey”. Hitherto it has played a major role in fuelling the Syrian civil war by providing arms and sanctuary to anti-Assad rebels and functioning as a conduit for western and Saudi weapons into Syria. There has been blowback. A number of anti-government journalists have been arrested in recent months as the AKP conducted the election under the slogan that the choice was: “us or chaos”. The increased violence might have convinced these voters that a vote for the AKP was a safer bet for peace, rather than to try and continue to stand up against the state’s power.
On the Kurdish side, PKK executive committee member Duran Kalkan said the group is weighing whether to extend a pre- election cease-fire, and closely watching what the new AK Party government does. Turnout was a convincing 87 percent among the 54 million people eligible to vote. The left-leaning CHP got 25 per cent of the votes, the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) boosted its tally from 13 per cent to over 16 per cent and the Kurdish nationalist Peoples’s Democratic Party (HDP) doubled its previous tally winning 13 per cent of the seats.
The start of the government’s campaign in July led to the PKK scrapping a three-year cease-fire. Although the HDP had based a large part of its election campaign on its promise to prevent Erdogan from attaining an executive presidency, the lure of constitutionally guaranteeing certain rights for the country’s Kurdish citizens could push it to compromise.
The hijacking of an electoral democracy by a president with a singular vision for the future of the country is not new in the world of liberal democracies, but it is certainly a new phenomenon in Turkey. He’d been the first Turkish leader to talk directly to Kurdish rebels, seeking to end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and drained hundreds of billions of dollars from the economy.
Erdogan was equally pleased by the outcome, calling the results a vote for “stability and trust”.
Following its astounding success in Turkey’s polls, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has announced its priority now is to change the constitution. They are extremely divisive within the country.
Erdogan’s critics often compare him to Vladimir Putin.
Instead, the president and the government should focus on the causes of renewed violence in Turkey.
Last, but not least, the powerful Turkish military has been silent thought this ordeal. The suicide bombings blamed on IS are just one indication of how the group is already and will remain the main beneficiary of the continued fighting between Turkey and the PKK.
While the AKP has much reason to celebrate its surprise victory, it faces myriad new challenges.
Advertisement
“First of all this government will not have the mandate to change the constitution from a legal standpoint”.
