Politics in Turkey, the concept of politics, more so the perception of Turkey has long been divided into two main camps. There will be no likelihood of this rift closing in the short and medium terms. The rift will further deepen; as the innovative political understanding that invests in the future strengthens the social ground, the old political style that is based on conventions and on dated perceptions of Turkey and the world at large, as long as it fails to reinvent itself, will diminish and be eliminated.
Everybody who takes note of the political language used by local politicians will realize how wide and sharp this rift is, how fast the political language used by the opposition is rapidly becoming foreign to Turkey and how “old” it is growing. You haven’t misunderstood, the political language that the opposition bloc uses is blatantly “old” for this country.
If we want to see how it will be from now onwards, where the country is headed to, how political cadres will change, how political discourses will transform, what kind of leader profile will become prominent, the types of political identities that social changes will cultivate, the direction in which the new waves and trends that are globally growing will impact and shape Turkey, we need to pay attention to this perspective, this distinction, this differentiation.
On one side there are founding ideals, on the other side there are discourses remnant of the Cold War; on one side there is the solidarity around the great Turkey goal, on the other there is the determining of sides in favor of the multinational will; on one side there are those keeping the Seljuk-Ottoman-Republic genetic alive, on the other those who are trying to gain power from the remains of tutelage; on one side those who taking the social wind behind them, on the other there are those who set sail opposite to social trends; on one side those who take big steps for a Turkey whose authority is increasing both regionally and globally, on the other those who think that their small neighborhood fights and personal conflicts are politics; on one side those who launched the re-rising period, and on the other those who are trying to push Turkey under the protection of a great power at the cost of shrinking.
The race, the competition, the fight, the struggle, the showdown is taking shape based on this rift. Alliance relations and agreements, joint candidate plans regarding the June 24 elections, and who will run for president are all decided based on this. The race, the showdown, the struggle is between the local and the multinational.
It is between Turkey’s great struggle and the will that is trying to sabotage it, the will that is trying to “stop Turkey.” Those on the inside taking position in parallel to the wishes of that will, getting close with one another, establishing partnerships are part of the attempt to “trip” Turkey, to “shove” it, to make it “stagger.”
This is perhaps the sharpest distinction. The June 24 election is going to be a race between the Turkey axis and the multinational axis. It is going to be between those who support the new rising period and those who are trying to drag the country back to the old tutelage atmosphere.
The will that congregated the opposition bloc, the will placing people and circles who cannot meet in the same position in a single front, the will that positioned them in opposition to Turkey’s great struggle, the will controlling the dealings made behind closed doors is one and the same. This is in no way a local will, it is a “foreign hand,” it is a small will that has taken refuge in the mercy of another power and is working for the Turkey project. The question that should be asked the most, the answer that should be sought for the most before the election is, “Who brought you together?”
After project organizations, the period of project parties, project alliances has started. The will behind the project organizations is also the will controlling the project alliance relations. The will that set up July 15 is also trying to sabotage the June 24 elections. Those who are unable to put forth a strong presence because of the political language they are using, their political style, and their alienation to society are hiding behind this will and trying to draw strength from it. Even their election period campaigns are decided by that will.
These statements are going to sound harsh and ruthless to some, I know. However, right after the elections, the nature of the current “operational relations” will be revealed very clearly. What Turkey is actually trying to take measures against and the kind of tremors that are going to take place in the region will become clear once the prices certain countries have paid in the global storm are seen. Those who look back from those days are going to give credit to these statements.
The CHP project has been completed.
I have been following the political language main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has been using for a long time: I see a political personality who most of the time does not hesitate to make statements that are damaging to this country’s national integrity, who is inclined to expand the area of conflict through the ethnic and sectarian identity, who has taken position against almost all of Turkey’s attempts to defend itself, who has openly taken position against the history-making local will, who has taken the CHP from being Turkey’s party and degraded it to the size of a small ideological organization, who has completed the project tasked to him in this direction, who gives the impression that he is acting more according to Germany’s theories than Turkey’s, who has not been able to produce any vision and future perspective for this country beyond extremely personal abuse. In this aspect, I emphasized the danger of Kılıçdaroğlu being a “national security matter” on many occasions. My concern is that this aspect is going to become even more prominent.
Those who listened to the CHP’s presidential candidate Muharrem İnce’s speech yesterday would have noticed that he has no plan for this country – and that it is not possible in this state either – the shallowness of the political language he used, the way he spoke with the CHP leader, his “unreliable” and “tasteless” discourse, that there is no hope whatsoever for him to run Turkey, that he is the representative of a fight based on shaking and collapsing rather than producing and running. How far can one get with this style and political language, what kind of future can be built with it!
They have no projects, no discourse, and no ideals related to the future. They look back and make revenge attacks. They have no opinion whatsoever about the direction the world of the future is headed in. There is no sign showing that they are able to perceive the world of the future. It is clear that they do not understand what this country is pursuing, why it is signing such major projects, what it is preparing for, and what kind of measures it is taking to avoid getting caught in the global storm. It is clear that they do not understand what awaits Turkey, the region and the world after the election – or, they understand it and have chosen a front accordingly.
What kind of geography is going to shape, what direction will Turkey take, what kind of promises has the opposition bloc made to the international system? Why are the U.S. and Europe, through the organizations under their control or directly, becoming so involved in the election? These are the questions we are going to ask most after June 24.
However, today, we are at the sharpest stage of the fight between the Turkey axis and the multinational will. We are at the point where everybody will make clear their place in the pages of history and choose their side. We have no doubt that our nation perceives that heavy burden a lot better than these political parties. History has taken a turn; our country’s political future has become obvious. After this election, the political parties in question will become even more alienated on the social ground and diminish. Because it will not be possible to take place in this country’s future with such a stance and discourse.
Because this election is Turkey’s way of choosing its future. Our preferences will be according to this. We are either going to open out to the world or shrink and be squashed into the region. The road map for post-June 24 is now clear. Turkey is going to grow, the main axis is going to gain even more strength. No alliance is going to be able to break this will, stop this trend or prevent it. We are going to see this together. All of those projects are going to be destroyed, but everyone is going to be left out in the cold with the tenders and roles they accepted today.
