President Erdoğan's success is due to him interpreting reality well. If necessary, he reconsiders his strategy and innovates it. He does not act categorical or dogmatic, and this is what makes him successful. If the Justice and Development (AK) Party has so far always been the first party and always won elections in Turkey, this style of politics has had a great impact. This is what political experience is. It perceives reality, new developments and new conditions, and takes new steps accordingly.
When AK Party first came to power, there was a wave that was centered on peace and democracy in the world and in the region. The biggest expectation of the public in Turkey was freedoms and development. AK Party did exactly that. It forced the country to change in this direction. Therefore, from time to time, conflicts and tensions occurred with the established order. However, they did not adopt an attitude that categorically always conflicted with the state. I remember the Taraf newspaper's headline "Prime Minister of Pasha"… Erdogan did not pay attention to this policy of the typical liberals. He moved forward on the path to change, sometimes by conflict and sometimes by compromise.
A new era of politics emerged with the Arab Spring and Syrian war; under the new conditions, terror attacks targeted Turkey. The U.S., with Erdoğan moving away from Israel in the Middle East and its politics, first activated the Gezi Park events, then the Gülen movement, which was followed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terror group . Turkey was pushed into a complete atmosphere of war. The wave of terror and rebellions shadowed politics. The country faced disintegration. Erdogan, to overcome these problems, followed a policy that responded to the fight with a fight.
He responded to clashes with a clash. The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) was dissolved, PKK's trench policy was buried, Afrin was liberated, and observation points were established in Idlib. Under these circumstances, AK Party won the security policy it was following. It was victorious in the November 1 elections. Society welcomed the efforts to re-centralize the state, which faced disintegration, with the presidential system. Indeed, the nation approved this policy on April 16.
Now, the third phase is being initiated. This is a phase in which the security problem is widely resolved and problem of perpetuity is being taken care of. New political conditions are being born. The nation has now had enough of the polarization and the discourse of tension that rises in the environment of a state of conflict and terror. This must be left behind and normal discourse must be resumed. Erdogan also sees these new conditions. CHP presidential candidate Muharrem Ince sees it as well. In fact, İnce has replaced his belligerent and quarrelsome attitude with a completely different rhetoric. Erdogan is carrying both the AK Party and politics to the third stage in accordance with new political circumstances. He says this clearly: "We will strive for peace, not for war. We will increase socialization, not tension. We will advocate integration, not segregation. I am speaking from the heart. We will certainly not allow chaos, animosity, and hatred to grow in the fertile lands of Anatolia."
The fertile lands of Anatolia evoke the meaning that Garaudy attributes to the Fertile Crescent. It is a policy that comprises of different beliefs and cultures throughout history without destroying them. It is a justice that keeps Jews, Christians and Yazidis together. It is a state that sustains Arabs, Turks and Kurds in the same political authority with their differences. It is the historical sociological nature that enables sects, peoples and languages with diverse beliefs and cultures to respectfully exist in a central state. There is the Fertile Crescent in Turkey's rebirth. Anatolia represented the Fertile Crescent with the last Ottomans. Wars and crises arose when that state left. When Erdogan represents this policy, only the Fertile Anatolia will raise the Fertile Crescent up again. If new Turkey sets about this task, fertile Anatolia will be the new spirit of Middle East order.
If the third term of AK Party’s policies evolves into this, the new salvation will be a hope for the entire Middle East. It will be a "constructive hope" instead of the destructive hopes of the insurgents, imperialists and dictators.
