By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
They describe our strange relationship as “inseparable”…
We receive a share of whatever’s cooking there…
When you’re so ‘intertwined’ with Turkey, you can’t write about anything else…
You can’t ignore the elections…
With a newly invented fake term, they call it “fraternity law”…
You’re tied to them like a knot on the umbilical cord…
Your own future is directly related to the elections there…
You feel this down to your pocket and down to your bones…
You’re terrified as to “When the exchange rate will explode?”
Every penny you earn is at the discretion of Ankara…
You’re melting away as you walk towards the future…
Your money, your dreams, your existence is melting away…
Yet, millions of people in Turkey who don’t have any concerns about ‘democracy’ don’t think like you…
They like ‘authoritarianism’…
They like the intertwining of party and state…
Millions don’t care about the ‘law’…
They don’t worry about having ‘freedom of press’…
In fact, while they are unable to fill their ‘grocery bags’ at the market, they find comfort by repeating ‘the flag will always fly, the call to prayer will never cease’…
They watch with admiration the Ottomans swinging swords in television series and the Arab-loving imams in mosques preaching…
Of course, creating such a “society” was certainly not easy…
The fellowship of “National Vision” initially faced many difficulties…
However, thanks to the “hypocrites” who came after Erbakan, “religion” and politics merged…
Within 20 years, Turkish society underwent a complete “transformation”…
As a result, starting next Monday, the blood-stained “Hezbollah” will have its “voice” echoed in the Turkish Parliament…
Debates will intensify on whether “nationalism” that is arm-in-arm with “Islamism based on the ummah” or Kemalist nationalism, which represents one of the six arrows of the CHP [Republican People’s Party], should be opted for…
MHP [Nationalist Movement Party] nationalism will compete with İYİ [Good Party] and CHP nationalism…
Television series where we hear and see “bismillah” [in the name of Allah], prayers, fasting, mosques, and imams will multiply…
Turkey will settle into its new “position” in the Middle East…
Shaping its “survival” with Arabism and Ottomanism…
If Mr Erdoğan wins the second round of elections, all of these will undoubtedly be experienced to an even greater extent…
Well then, can an election victory by Kılıçdaroğlu next Sunday reverse this course?
First, let’s determine this: It is certainly possible for Kılıçdaroğlu to win the second round of elections…
Especially since it is understood that the CHP flunked on the issue of “ballot security” and is weaker against the organized power of the AKP [Justice and Development Party], measures can be taken to prevent this [from happening again]…
In short, Kılıçdaroğlu can win the second round of elections. However, any such victory would be a “Pyrrhic victory”…
As meaningless as the Roman victory of Pyrrhus, King of Tarentum…
And here is the reason:
What was the biggest claim of the “Table of Six”?
To put an end to the “Presidential+Government” system…
To switch to a “strengthened parliamentary system”…
All these remain a fantasy for now…
So is changing the constitution, reorganizing the separation of powers, and getting rid of a partisan President…
If Kılıçdaroğlu emerges victorious from the ballot box on Sunday, Turkey will witness a “conflict” between the CHP “President” elected by the people and the AKP-MHP majority in parliament…
When Kılıçdaroğlu tries to use the authoritarian “powers” that Erdoğan has utilized, he will face attacks from both his own camp and from the AKP and MHP…
However, despite all these negatives, it is possible to say that Kılıçdaroğlu’s victory in the second round will bring partial relief to Turkey…
Domestically, debates about the “ineffective and uncontrolled parliament” gifted to Turkish politics by Erdoğan will increase political tension…
There is no doubt about that…
However, Turkey’s relations with the world, the US and the West will see some easing…
Turkey will be viewed more positively in terms of foreign aid, loans, and investments…
Perhaps it will move a few steps up in the global democracy index…
But Turkey’s fundamental structural problems will continue to persist…
At the forefront of these problems is the “integration of state and party”…
The President is the leader of a party…
He attends party congresses, holds power over everything, and makes all the decisions…
He has no concern about “embracing” all of the people…
In fact, he sees no harm in attacking the opposition with excessively fanatic party rhetoric…
This “picture” is perhaps the biggest price Turkey has paid in the past 21 years…
It has transitioned from a multi-party political structure to an almost single-party structure…
Party officials in the provinces are intertwined with the state’s Governors and District Governors…
In the recent elections, the “integration of state and party” was actively present in the field…
While the AKP was allocated rally venues in cities several times, such opportunities were not provided to the opposition…
The state’s official news agency, “AA” [Anadolu Agency], was used like a propaganda machine…
So was the TRT [Turkish Radio and Television Corporation]…
We couldn’t see even a trace of “democratic sensitivity” in the elections…
The “reflection of free will at the ballot box” was literally under siege…
During the election process, positions and ranks were distributed…
Promises that could be considered “bribes” were made, and money was handed out…
Tens of thousands of teachers were appointed…
Inauguration ceremonies continued without interruption… President Erdoğan attended inauguration ceremonies even between two elections… He gave speeches… Governors and District Governors participated in election campaigns using state facilities, including official cars…
A “Supreme Election Board” consisting of judges, appointed by the President himself who was also running in the elections, managed the entire process…
Unfortunately, this was not an “election” that was accessible to the scrutiny and reporting of international observers…
That’s why both Kılıçdaroğlu and Erdoğan can only achieve a victory like the one achieved by King Pyrrhus…
But Turkey will continue to look at democracy from afar for many more years to come…
Source: WHILE THE VOICE OF HEZBOLLAH ECHOES IN THE TURKISH PARLIAMENT
