It's the last five days before the elections. This is the home stretch. In running, the home stretch is the most critical distance. In this stage if the race, it is possible, with a sudden sprint, to attack and breast the tape or fall behind while going in the lead. This is valid for competitions. Does this happen in politics? It's worth the discussion.

Before writing this article, I spoke with the owners of major Turkish survey companies. They talked about the situation in the home stretch.

The things they said were similar. Of course all of our eyes are on the votes of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Because there is no other party which may possibly come to power alone.

Whether the AK Party will coming to power alone is the main issue.

AK Party executives state one after another, “We are on knife-edge.”

The important surveyors I spoke with use the same term: “Knife-edge.”

The AK Party has been on knife-edge since June 7. For the AK Party, losing the power to rule short of 18 deputies was not being subjected to the “knife-edge,” but being on the sharp edge of the knife. It hurt, it gave pain and left traces behind in the party and in many people.

Now, the AK Party continues to walk on the knife-edge. It will either come to power or lose power by a narrow margin. That's why the home stretch is critical. This is a home stretch to running on knife-edge.

An election period amid terror, attacks, wars, civilian deaths and martyrs…

Everyone had a lot of difficulties and troubles. The recent months have been life on knife-edge for everyone.

I am speaking with people from all walks of life on streets, in the market, on public transport. You can sense the grief, upset, exhaustion and uncertainty in everyone. It's Easy to say, yet going to the polls four times in a year as simple as it sounds. The tension of the election atmosphere, the propaganda periods, discussions, the influence of the media and social media blew the citizens' minds.

But, I think more than anything else, the terror attacks experienced after June 7 elections, the bombs that exploded in cities and the lives we lost exhausted our people.

These exhausted us all and affected our mood. That's why the interest and excitement for the elections are low. Exhausted souls, exhausted bodies, exhausted minds are finding it difficult to go to the polls.

Some polling companies are expecting a dramatic decline in voter turnout.

This is not something that can be explained by saying “it's the holiday season, people are away on vacation.” This may be the exhaustion of going to the polls for the fourth time in a year and the pressure of terror.

Yes, the people are exhausted and unwilling, but again one last thing needs to be requested from our devoted people.

Keeping the people away from the ballot box is what evil intending powers exhausting the people through terror and communication, stressing the country and weakening Turkey. Going to the polls is not a good perception for our democracy either. It further demoralizes the demoralized and impacts our faith in the ballot box.

Hence, rather than blaming each other, in the home stretch, it is more important for all political parties to make speeches that encourage the people to go to polls and set the mechanisms to take the people to the ballot box.

Not to forget that a high voter turnout is the most powerul message and greatest challenge directed at terror and the enemies of the country.

Which party benefited from the Ankara attack?

One of the most upsetting and attocious things of all is doing politics over terror attacks and the people we lost. Exploiting the Ankara attack, that left more than 100 civilians dead, for political gains is first and foremost disrespectful toward those who lost their lives in the attacks and their families.

Surprisingly, the statements made by Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, who said, “Bombs are exploding. If these blasts serve the AK Party, the abettor is obvious,” are very similar. In my meeting with the survey companies, this was the issue I asked in particular. They said, the surveys conducted in the aftermath of the attack clearly indicate that this attack was not in favor if the AK Party.

I still think that continuing this discussion is a discourtesy toward the people who lost their lives. Correlating terror with politics is very dangerous.