Can He Keep His Promise?

BY TUFAN TURENC
HURRIYET- The Constitutional Court ruled that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has become the focus of anti-secular actions and that if it continues down this path, it would be closed. As any reasonable person can see, this is no acquittal. This decision can benefit our country and nation, but only if the AKP takes this important warning seriously. Ten of the court's 11 justices decided that the AKP has become the focus of anti-secular actions.

Six of these 10 justices voted to close down the party, and four voted to cut the party's financial assistance from the Treasury. One of these four is Sacit Adali, who rejected the claims of anti-secular actions and voted not to close the party. The AKP should consider this vote carefully. If Erdogan and his staff see it as a victory or the Constitutional Court not taking a risk due to pressure, they would be very mistaken. If they do this, they won't be able to avoid an inevitable end.

Erdogan's slogan 'We won't stop, but will keep on going' is wrong. If this road had been smooth, the court's chief justice wouldn't have warned them to change course. The idea 'we won 45% of the vote so we can do whatever we want' should be immediately abandoned. In democracies, ruling parties don't govern the country however they want, regardless of how many votes brought them to power. They also can't flout the law.

Now some people think optimistically that the AKP will learn from this decision and Erdogan will give another speech from party headquarters embracing the entire nation. The same people also thought that Erdogan and his circle would change. They still think this. Some even think that Erdogan isn't the focus of anti-secular actions. These people aren't doing the AKP any favors. The AKP tried to rule the country without seeking any counsel or protecting the regime's balances. We saw how this ended up, and how the party just barely escaped closure.

The AKP should immediately stop scuffling with the institutions of the regime and the republic. It should also end its efforts to use democracy as a cover to reshape social life to fit its own preferences. It shouldn't exploit religion for political ends and also shouldn't try to make the country's administration share its religious obsessions. It should see that dividing society between its supporters and non-supporters hurts the country terribly and that it shouldn't discriminate between citizens, organizations and institutions.

The AKP should see that diluting modern education with religious education poses a great danger for future generations and so give up this quest. It should move towards real democracy, not the one it wants, and rapidly implement necessary reforms. If the AKP does all these things, the court's decision and warning will have done their job. But if the prime minister's statement that our road is the one laid out by Ataturk remains mere words, Turkey will continue to feel this distress.