The June 7 elections have given shape to a rather intriguing front which we need to take seriously regarding our thoughts concerning Turkey's future. Opposition parties which have no concrete projects or emphasize a political discourse and perspective almost became a single block.
The political opposition, ideological groups, terrorist organizations, the Gülen Movement, some capital circles and the foreign power circles which have served all sorts of coup attempts to take Turkey hostage, are mobilizing against the AK Party as a single front.
The willpower, which brings together the Republican People's Party (CHP) with the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), the illegal Gülen Movement with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) with Iranian intelligence, and the theses of the Gülen Movement and Iran's theses on Turkey, and fixes all of these with the anti-Erdoğan circles in the U.S., Israel and Europe, sees the elections as the last opportunity and is attempting – with their utmost power- to pull Turkey into a controllable area.
HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş's statement where –in reference to President Erdoğan- he said, “We will not let you become the president” is not his own sentence, but the remark of this common front, the architects of these united front, and this sentence deciphers all secrets of the project geared towards the June 7 elections. “We will not let you become the president” sentence is the slogan of the project which aims to end the great transformation started by Erdoğan, which pulled Turkey up to 50 years of development in a decade, and has uplifted the country and has imposed confidence in the nation.
The campaign which has been announced has swept the differences between the united front that has been formed and the political fronts, as well as parties and organizations. The thick line between legitimate politics and illegitimate methods, and the sharp line between politics and terrorism has been erased by this front. The outlawed DHKP-C and the (outlawed?) PKK have become the most effective arguments of the new front. When necessary, these powers became tools to be used as a threat and blackmailing. It seems like some circles need armed powers that the sphere of action of these two terrorist organizations has been expanded at its max, and both of them have been diverted to an agenda adjusted for the elections.
The Gülen Movement, which carries out the most destructive campaign against the resolution process, is fighting on the same front as the HDP and the PKK today, making elections-alliances, and serving unthinkable plots against the government. Gülen's men, who collected votes for the CHP in the previous elections, are now collecting votes for the CHP and the HDP for the upcoming elections. The Gülen-affiliated media is carrying out a more explicit and aggressive advocacy, - even spokesmanship - for the CHP and HDP campaigns, more so than the media conglomerates owned by Aydın Doğan. In this regard, they even attempt to conceal DHKP-C attacks through Demirtaş's mouth. Which willpower does the group, which portrays a partnership with the PKK and has previously declared those contributing to the resolution process as traitors, belong to?
In a bizarre way, almost each party including the CHP, HDP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) do not hesitate to portray an image showing closeness with Gülenist circles, and go even further and strive to express their close relations with them. Here, we must seriously contemplate about whose product the mind, willpower, and the political approach are, and who the political and ideological identities of these parties are corroded by in such a way.
Legitimate political parties and illegitimate organizations have a common identity and stance. They all miss the Turkey of the old days. A Turkey dominated by coalitions, which experienced political crises on a daily basis, where uncertainty was as prevalent as possible, where narrow relations took politics hostage and economic crises were normalized. You cannot see more than this when you look at their political discourse, projects, attitudes and actions. We did not hear a single sentence from any of them regarding the next step of today's Turkey. Their pledges resemble those of a decade ago, and are surreal if directed towards the Turkey of tomorrow, and even fail to convince themselves.
It must not be forgotten that no political discourse which cannot go beyond the Turkey of today, and is unable to reestablish itself in this regard will gain wide currency or increase their power. These parties will melt even more with each election because of their attitudes which cannot go beyond their daily actions. But they had to produce a much more advanced political language than the ruling party, the discourse of the AK Party. The AK Party, -which they refer to as the weary ruler- is light years away from them in terms of the discourse power used for the elections, and they even have a strong nation's opinion that they will be able to carry out these discourses.
One of the mistakes that they make is that they fail to put a distance between terrorist organizations, the pro-coup circles of the past and capital circles which have not left a positive impression in the eyes of the nation and themselves when seeking power. It is the fact that they cannot throw off their close image with some circles which signify anxiety for the country as a whole and even at times get into the position of defending those circles. Therefore they are marginalized in the eyes of extensive masses and cannot establish confidence beyond the scope of becoming the opposition party.
The enrichment of this country's democratic system is possible by the separation of opposition parties from pro-coup, and dirty political and economic circles to gain independence. Even today, if the international marketing of opposition parties and illegitimate opposition circles is done through the Gülen Movement, and an opposition language is used over them, it means that the loss of blood will continue. An emphasis on a strong, independent Turkey which walks on the path of economic prosperity and does not have inferiority complexes regarding technology and confidence will be beneficial for them, too.
If you pay attention, you'll realize that pre-planned articles are published in Western media outlets with the desire to affect the domestic public opinion prior to the elections. We have read quite contemptuous pieces in the previous elections, where they were throwing streams of insults towards Turkey. Back then, the service from Turkey used to be done by a relatively narrow circle. I remember writing reactionary pieces during the presidency of Abdullah Gül when I could not stomach the pieces written. For years, we have been watching insulting pieces directed towards Recep Tayyip Erdoğan but were actually offending the country as a whole.
Now they started serving such pieces again, but this time the Gülenist circles do the job. These circles, which have become a foreign threat and lobby against Turkey in almost all countries, carry out campaigns on behalf of the opposition.
The latest piece published in the New York Times is one which reminds us of these old pieces. Utmost insolence, utmost marketing of fear, and utmost service. Previously, they used to write “The U.S. should intervene and stop Turkey” and now they say “NATO should intervene.” Our opposition hopes for help from this discourse. That's it. Everything is as much as the single column of a newspaper.
But lest they forget, that Turkey is left in the past. It is no longer the country which will be put shaped through a single piece. A government which is shaped by a single piece or a statement, and a society which is affected by this no longer exists. Whoever appeals to such pieces are humiliated in the eyes of the people and disappear. Those who challenge will become heroes. Turkey is a country which challenges and it is precisely this aspect that the public embraces, and what the opposition fails to grasp.
This alliance, the image of a common front will melt political parties in the main pool. Some will shrink and disappear. A bizarre political restructuring will take place following the elections, because the difference between them is blurred in a speedy manner. I suppose the political block which will be formed then will get into an even more combative war. This war will never be a political struggle, but will be the struggle of the old and new Turkey.
Only then will you see the partnership of parties and terrorist organizations. Some will even get up and actually say, “NATO should interfere in Turkey.” They will even say, “Why not? NATO used to administer the country during the Cold War era; they might as well do so now.”
This is precisely why we call this the “last war of independence” and say it will change history after a century. Everyone should determine their position according to this.
