It is unrealistic to expect that Turkey will dilute its support for Pakistan but that should not prevent Modi from ensuring that the Turkish side is fully briefed on Pakistan’s continuing support for terrorist groups that operate against India. Previously, Merkel had been opposed to Turkish membership in the EU.
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Turkey is considering holding a referendum on plans to expand the powers of presidency into a US-style executive role, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said on Wednesday. However, in order to call for a referendum, 330 out of 550 seats in Parliament are needed. He did not achieve this.
Gursel Tekin, general secretary of the main opposition Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP) on Tuesday said that the party is open to the idea of drafting a brand new constitution. Still, it has managed to return to Parliament.
The right-wing Nationalist Action Party (MHP) dropped 31 seats, falling to fourth place with only 40 seats.
AKP’s win is not absolute, however.
Ersin Kalaycioglu, professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabanci University and a well-known political commentator, believes “there is no chance” that the AKP will change tack.
According to (anti-Erdogan) Western analysts, the violence allowed the Turkish President to turn “stability” into an election issue, and mobilise the prevalent atmosphere of fear to the aid of Sunni Turkish nationalism against Kurdish militancy. The Turkish economy needs attention – over the last five years, the rate of annual growth has plunged from 10% to 3%, one of the reasons the AKP did badly in June.
In his congratulations letter to Erdogan, European Council President Donald Tusk welcomed the high voter turnout and democratic choice, but also noted the “difficult security environment” and “increasingly restrictive media situation”.
A referendum is a disquieting thought.
Contrary to predictions, the November 1 election did not prove a re-run of the June 5 contest. They were dead wrong. The attacks by the PKK weakened the HDP, which had got significant non-Kurdish support in June. What can be gleaned so far is that the United States is not exactly in a celebratory mood over Erdogan’s victory.
The AKP will also pursue “Islamisation” of the educational system and empowerment of the party’s conservative, devout constituency, as well as faith-based charities and other organisations, eroding Turkish secularism, a founding principle of the modern state established almost a century ago by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. But being the sole party in power, Erdogan will be able to reassert his influence over government from the grandeur of his newly built presidential palace. Soli Ozel, who lectures on global politics at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University and writes a column for the daily Haberturk, argues that the determining factor in Turkey’s ties with Europe is the refugee crisis and Europe’s need to cooperate with Ankara to resolve it. “But they shouldn’t even bother to knock at our door if they are going to poison it by mentioning a presidential system”, said Tekin. It was an organized affair.
From that moment on, the world just kept growing darker: The Islamic State stepped up its incursions.
On Monday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu asked Turkey’s political parties to come together and agree on a new constitution.
The war has turned into a disastrous quagmire, and the Europeans and the Russians are pushing for a political settlement. Turkey is already hosting 2 million Syrian refugees and millions more are headed toward Europe.
“All [governance] models can be debated including a presidential one”. While the AKP is wealthy, parties like the HDP were tapped out by the June election and could not marshal the resources for another national campaign.
“They are targeting a personality, not a system of governance”.
Violent elements that had poisoned the settlement process must be taken out before the settlement talks are put back on track, Akdogan stressed after the election.
On the foreign policy front, the badly dented rule-of-law architecture is likely to draw more criticism from the EU.
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The party’s base is among Kurds, an oppressed nationality spread over several countries that accounts for around 20 percent of the population in Turkey.
