by Ugur Akinci, Ph.D.
A recent survey broadcast on the Turkish news TV channel NTV created mega waves because it suggested that the ruling AKP can garner as much as 60% of the votes in the municipal elections to be held this coming Sunday.
No party in the history of Turkish multi-party democracy has won an election by such a landslide. The closest was Democrat Party which captured 57.5 % of the popular votes in the 1954 general election. AKP victory could set a new electoral record.
The questions of the day seem to be: “Why?” and “How come?”
To put AKP`s meteoric rise into proper perspective I`d like to share a true story with you.
My maternal uncle Erdogan Yucel, whom we have lost on December 16, 2003 at the age of 65 after a long illness, had told his sister (my mom) before his death that if he could live to see the March 28 elections he would definitely vote for AKP.
I must remind that my uncle Erdogan, who lived in Ankara`s liberal district Cankaya still administered by the social-democrats, has been the most a-political person you could ever meet in your life. He was a very honorable man with impeccable personal integrity, but he was not a political or religious person at all. For example I do not believe he ever went to a mosque in his life (well, perhaps he did once or twice). He was also a heavy smoker and drinker – a definite minus in AKP`s play-book. Not only he passionately avoided any discussion of politics but I`ve verified with my mother that he never voted in his life either. So if he had lived, he would have voted for the first time in his 65 years and he would have voted for AKP.
So what`s the explanation of my uncle`s “inexplicable” change of heart in the closing days of his life? My mom told me the rest of the story.
One day towards the end of last year the door knocked while my uncle was alone in his apartment. He was very sick at the time. He made it to the door with great difficulty. When he opened the door he was surprised to see a medical team consisting of a doctor and two nurses. They explained that they were sent by Ankara Greater Metropolitan Municipality to canvas the health needs and concerns of Ankara`s citizens. They were conducting a door-to-door survey by knocking on every door in the neighborhood.
“Is there a sick person in this household who needs any medical attention?” the team-leader doctor asked.
My uncle, who barely made ends meet through most of his life, must have thought he was in a dream. “Yes, I am sick,” he replied.
The municipal medical team entered my uncle`s apartment and they gave him a free head-to-toe check-up, courtesy of AKP`s Ankara Greater Metropolitan Mayor Melih Gokcek. The doctor told my uncle that he had a serious problem with his lungs (which was true) and that they scheduled a free X-ray appointment for him at the municipality hospital at a certain date. Later on when his wife arrived home my uncle shared what happened with his equally incredulous wife. Never such a thing ever happened during the tenure of any other party. On that day my uncle has decided that he was going to vote for AKP in the next elections but he passed away before realizing his wish.
It should be noted that my uncle actually did go to the municipal hospital at the scheduled date and did have his X-rays taken, all as a part of AKP`s door-to-door health survey initiative.
I heard other similar stories in the recent past like the story of the house-cleaning lady who told her patron that she was going to vote for AKP. The patron, a rich lady fully committed to the CHP camp, wanted to know the reason. The poor household worker explained that if it weren`t for the sacks of potatoes and flour distributed free of charge by the AKP municipality of her town her family would certainly starve. “What`s a single vote to pay my gratitude?” the house cleaning lady asked.
A Turkish proverb suggests “where there`s smoke, there`s fire.” If AKP receives 60% of the votes on March 28 it will be for a good reason. It will be due to the gratitude of millions of Turkish voters whose real, concrete, daily needs are met in one way or another by the AKP municipalities. That`s an uncomfortable fact that AKP`s secular and social-democrat detractors neither emulate nor meditate on. Instead, they dismiss it quickly as "yet another ploy to deceive the public and pave the way to a religious-fundamentalist take over." And they continue to lose one election after another.
Albert Einstein once defined madness as "insisting on doing the same thing but expecting a different result." Did Einstein have CHP and the Turkish "left" in mind?
(Want to see some March 28 Election Posters?)