• Gündem Haberleri

Not long to go

Muharrem İnce’s Diyarbakır rally created a greater impact than expected. The urban legend that the CHP will never be able to mount a presence in the region was demolished. T

Abone Ol

Muharrem İnce’s Diyarbakır rally created a greater impact than expected. The urban legend

that the CHP will never be able to mount a presence in the region was demolished. The

opinion was bolstered that, if the election goes to a second round, Kurdish voters are highly

likely to vote for İnce in droves. Alongside this, the pronouncements that Kurds will be

honoured and Turks’ concerns eliminated and that he himself would agree on matters over

which Kurds of differing opinions reached agreement also created the hope, even if not

coming to immediate fruition, of a more potent solution than the ruling party’s botched

opening.

The Nation Alliance is a very broad political accord consisting of social democrats, the centre

right, ultranationalists and conservatives. Looking at the space encompassed by its political

spectrum, it embraces the whole of the country more than the People’s Alliance that is

already beginning to crumble.

If the election goes to a second round, HDP voters and conservative Kurdish voters who

appear to be moving towards the Felicity Party may also find inclusion within this broad

accord.

Such a broad alliance is an important break in terms of a country whose institutions are in

disarray and which no longer merits classification as a law-based state being put back on its

feet. The opportunity exits to define the lowest common denominators to enable the re-

establishment of the rule of law and democracy and to turn the country’s direction from crisis

to a new social contract.

When past examples of authoritarian regimes are studied, especially in South America,

political parties that could reputedly never align with one another were seen to act together in

opposition to single-person or single-party regimes. Chile’s famous “No” vote, frequently

cited here at the time of the last referendum, was the work of just such a broad accord. And

that is not all. The restoring of democracy in the country in tandem with regime change was

also based on this accord.

Even certain important civilians included in the military dictatorship government in Brazil are

known to have participated in the democratic opposition. This is how the transition to

democracy was unlocked in that country.

If the election makes it to a second round, it is most important to stress the unity of this broad

accord. The way will thus be paved for opposition votes to congregate around Muharrem

İnce, the candidate most likely to make it through to the second round.

There is clearly a vital importance for the deputy presidents and the road map for the

transition to democracy to be announced in the second round. If the ruling party loses its

majority in parliament in the first round, support that may come from today’s ruling circles is

not a matter that should be passed over, either.

State resources are fully at the ruling party’s disposal and the media is almost entirely

controlled. Nevertheless, the palpable daily decline of Erdoğan’s strength and that of the

alliance he has formed shows the date of 24 June to be a threshold.

The opposition is in the ascendant while the ruling party is disintegrating. Maybe in this

election or maybe in the nearing local elections. At the most, in a fresh early election made

inevitable by the ruling party’s inability to govern the country.

A new culture of understanding and democracy is knocking at the door. If Turkey opens that

door, it will truly acquire the status of a leading country and, shining like a new star, will gain

in strength in the world in which democracy is undergoing erosion. Sooner or later, this will

be so.