CUMHURIYET- Columnist Cuneyt Arcayurek writes on Turkey’s elections ahead and their possible aftermath. A summary of his column is as follows:
Can anyone predict what’s going to happen after Nov. 3? We’re waiting for the elections without knowing how faithfully the promises we hear today are going to be kept after the campaigns end. However, if the public opinion polls are can be believed, certain well-known topics will occupy our agenda. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Justice and Development Party (AKP) are separately trying to convince the people to bring them to power alone. This is why CHP leader Deniz Baykal has refused to discuss any prospective coalition government. The AKP’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems much more flexible on the issue, but of course he is also very keen on forming a government on his own. In fact, by saying ‘We will willingly be a coalition partner with the CHP,’ he is trying to prepare his grassroots in advance for an outcome which he considers likely. So, what will be the very first task that this possible coalition government, most probably headed by the AKP, will be handling? Will it be Turkey’s unemployment problem or maybe repairing the economy without IMF help? Of course, it will be neither of these. It’s already clear: the new government, once formed, will try to change Article 76 of the Constitution, which sets out conditions for candidates standing in elections. Actually, the Motherland Party (ANAP) has already proposed reworking the article under which AKP leader Erdogan’s parliamentary candidacy was forever barred. Would the AKP not support this proposal? Of course it would. The CHP is also against the current implementation of Article 76. So the grounds on which these two parties will stand together have already been laid. Yet, there has been a notable lack of criticism and condemnation of Erdogan for his persistent, age-old pro-Islamic thoughts and beliefs which he hasn’t changed at all, his claims to have done so notwithstanding. It can hardly be the case that Erdogan has ceased dreaming of a world where ‘minarets are bayonets and mosque domes are helmets.’ There are several names on the AKP’s candidate list known for their close relations with the Islamic Nakshibandi sect. Is this alone not sufficient proof that Erdogan hasn’t changed a bit? Who is going to save Turkey? Current political cadres trapped between the nation’s vital problems and their parties’ interests, or those who have proven unable of reforming their minds, beliefs and thoughts?
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION