Turkey’s Real Problem Is Its Weak Opposition

BY ERGUN BABAHAN
SABAH- Our two main opposition parties, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), both yesterday criticized the claim by Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) leader Arzuhan Yalcindag that Turkey lacks an opposition. TUSIAD and Yalcindag were said to be favoring the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Yalcindag had said the lack of a serious opposition in Turkey makes statements by TUSIAD be seen more politically than they would be otherwise. She added that she wished there was a stronger and more constructive main opposition.

All reasonable people in Turkey would agree with her evaluation. Even the insulting replies to it show that she's right. Due to the lack of opposition in Turkey, the judicial branch and bureaucracy try to fill this void. The existence of a main opposition party which doesn't want to rule and which takes a stand only to protect the regime has ended up causing troubles for the regime itself. The lack of opposition also causes the ruling AKP to be overly comfortable and sometimes intolerant of criticisms. If the main opposition CHP sees that it's being controlled not only in terms of its secularism, but also its achievements, and that its draw at the ballot box is in danger, it would feel the need to pull itself together.

Since this hasn't happened, it has fallen to non-governmental groups like TUSIAD to criticize the ruling AKP for slowing down European Union reforms and its policies on the economy and children. The lack of an opposition party which seeks the leadership causes certain values to be identified with the AKP. Some people even expect a party with a conservative identity to follow a social democrat line. Turkey is suffering one of the most serious regime crises in its recent history because those who are disturbed by the AKP see that there's no opposition which wants to take the place of this party, as so they resort to non-electoral means. Thus Turkey is being propelled into a process whose end is uncertain. So it becomes inevitable that a democracy lacking a left will fail repeatedly.