<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Joint Memorandum of Understanding</h2><ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Last Monday, the Six-Party Table consisting of the CHP, the Demokrat (Democrat) Party, the DEVA Party, the Gelecek (Future) Party, the İYİ Party and the Saadet (Felicity) Party shared the Joint Memorandum of Understanding&nbsp;with the public and took the name Millet Alliance.</li></ul><img src="https://images.aposto.com/2023/1/6/1675531796546.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="2.01" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Cumhuriyet<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Consisting of 9 main headings, 75 sub-headings, and over 2,300 projects and policy proposals, the Joint Memorandum of Understanding constitutes the roadmap of the new government to be formed if the Millet Alliance wins the elections.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The main goal of the Joint Memorandum of Understanding, which was introduced by the deputy chairpersons of the six parties at the meeting, is ‘to make Turkey a happy country where everyone lives a life worthy of human dignity and reaches social welfare standards, where women, children, youth, and all citizens look to the future with hope, and where social peace and tranquillity are established.’<ul fr-original-style="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Details:&nbsp;You can find our detailed analysis of the projects and policy proposals in the Joint Memorandum of Understanding <a fr-original-style="" href="https://aposto.com/s/millet-ittifakindan-ortak-mutabakat-metni?utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">here.</a></li></ul></li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Demirtaş's comments: Commenting on the Joint Memorandum of Understanding to journalist Cüneyt Özdemir, former imprisoned HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş said, ‘First of all, it is a text that has been produced with the hard work of many people, so before criticising it, I have to give it its due. It is important that six different parties have come together and put forward this work. Of course, there is an effort to do good and right things in the whole text, this must be seen. Therefore, it is not a text that can be thrown away completely, but it is both incomplete and, in my opinion, the compass of the text is broken.’&nbsp;Demirtaş said that the reconciliation text emphasised the state rather than the individual and added: ‘...the formula in democracies is this: ‘Less government, more society.’ The text did not look from this perspective. In this respect, it also expresses an ideological preference. Instead of a libertarian state, a security state is being built in this way in the first place.’</li></ul><h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Discussion of Candidacy</h2><ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">‘We will announce our candidate on February 13, inşallah.’ CHP Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said this regarding the joint presidential candidate of the Millet Alliance.</li><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">‘It might take longer’: Ali Babacan, Chairperson of the DEVA Party, said, ‘We are close, it will be finished in a few weeks. That is the intention but not the goal. We say it would be good if it is finished by the 13th, but it is not a problem if it is 1 week and 10 days longer. Normally, we have time until March 30th. We have finished everything that needs to be done. We were saying that the Memorandum should be finished, I have been saying this for a year. This is a must because there will be a joint candidate, they will ask everything, and how will they answer? When they ask our common candidate, the guide is here.’</li></ul><img src="https://images.aposto.com/2023/1/6/1675532164818.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.69" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Karar<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li dir="ltr" fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Akşener's clap back:&nbsp;İYİ Party President Meral Akşener said in her statement regarding the joint candidate: ‘This blessed struggle cannot be sacrificed to any personal ambition, any seat account! It does not submit to any will other than the people's will! We established the Millet Alliance to offer Turkey the future it deserves. We are here until we win!’</li></ul><img src="https://images.aposto.com/2023/1/6/1675532224614.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.77" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Habertürk<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; list-style-position: inside; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In his speech at the group meeting of his party, CHP Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said, ‘ The day after the election, their phones will ring bitterly, and they will hear a voice on the end of their phones, 'I am Kemal, I'm coming.'’<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2023/1/6/1675532313941.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.78" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">AA</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">‘Where are the 418 billion dollars?’:&nbsp;‘When it became clear that the money stolen from the state treasury amounted to 418 billion dollars, smear campaigns and assassination threats began. No, we are like a fort, we are like a wall, we will never, ever step back!’, Kılıçdaroğlu said and ‘If I don't see 418 billion dollars in the reports you write when we come to power, it means you have not fulfilled your duty. I clearly state in front of my nation that if I don't see the report, I will burn you!’, he addressed the Court of Accounts.</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Kılıçdaroğlu met with the Sol (Left) Party delegation at CHP Headquarters. The content of the meeting was not disclosed.</li></ul>

Spektrum

<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Opinion Polls</h3>The Turkey Report's research showed that the segments of society perceived to be the freest in terms of expressing their opinions are those who support the government (66%), those in high-income groups (63%), and religious conservatives (51%).&nbsp;Those who are not free According to the survey, 60% of the society think that low-income groups, 42% of the opposition, and 36% of the secular/moderns cannot express their opinions freely.&nbsp;In the survey conducted by Metropoll Research, 51.5% of the respondents answered "yes" to the question "Do you think the ongoing tension between Greece and Turkey is an attempt to create an agenda for the elections?". The rate of those who think that the tension is not an effort to create an election agenda was 26.2%, the rate of those who said "I don't know" was 18.6%, and the rate of those who said "I have no idea" was 3.7%.&nbsp;Distribution according to parties: The majority of CHP, İYİ Party, HDP, Felicity Party, DEVA Party voters, and hesitant voters said that the tension was "an effort to create an agenda for the elections."&nbsp;"There is no hostility": To the question "Do you think there is hostility between the people of Greece and our people?" 31% of the respondents answered "yes" and 64% answered "no." Only a majority of Saadet Party voters stated that there is hostility between the two peoples.&nbsp;Metropoll Research's survey showed that the rate of hesitant voters, which was on a downward trend, decreased to 13.7%. Without distributing the undecided voters, AK Party has 28.7%, CHP 20%, İYİ Party 11.9%, HDP 11.5%, MHP 6.1%, DEVA Party 2.7% and Zafer Party 2.2%.&nbsp;Those whose votes increased: While the rate of hesitant voters has decreased in the recent period, AK Party, HDP, MHP, DEVA Party, and Zafer Party were found to have increased their votes.&nbsp;Political preference of Kurds: 51.7% of the voters who participated in the survey and stated that they are of Kurdish origin preferred HDP. The rate of hesitant voters among Kurds was 15.6%, while CHP and AK Party had 12.8% and 10.9% support, respectively.&nbsp;On the other hand:&nbsp;In the survey conducted by the Yöneylem Social Research Center, 35.3% of the respondents answered "Erdoğan in any case" and 21.3% answered "the opposition candidate in any case" to the question "Who will win the presidential election, regardless of your preference?". The rate of those who said that the opposition would win if the "right candidate" is nominated was 43.3%.&nbsp;&nbsp;In Aksoy Research's survey, 81.4% of the respondents stated that they had debts, while 18.6% said they had no debts. Among those who have debts, 78% stated that they had difficulty or had great difficulty in paying these debts.&nbsp;What will happen if the government changes? The rate of those who think that they will have even more difficulty in paying their debts if the government changes were 15.9%, while this rate rose to 29.2% even among AK Party voters. The rate of those who said, "If the government changes, I will be able to pay my debts more easily" was 42.9%.&nbsp;

The Republic of Turkey, ruled by the AK Party-MHP coalition, is going through a period of chaos with the biggest economic, political, and social crises in its history. The only key out of this collapse process, in which inflation rates announced by the government exceed 80%, millions of irregular migrants pose a threat to social stability, rfar-right &nbsp;and racist movements are getting stronger. And citizens are unable to meet their basic needs like housing seems to be the general elections scheduled for 2023 (unless there is a snap election in the autumn). The AK Party, which has been in power since 2002, together with its ruling partner MHP, is waiting for the end of its political life and is unable to find solutions to the country's current crisis.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Opposition in the process of democracy alliance</h2>One of the most powerful strategies for changing the government and rebuilding the democratic regime in an electoral authoritarian system like Turkey, the opposition's ability to come together and form an alliance has been possible for some time now, due to the stable political agenda of the opposition alliance. Opposition allianc members are at different ends of the political spectrum, the CHP, the Democratic Party, the DEVA Party, the Future Party, the IYI Party, and the Felicity Party. But they are trying to build new politics around common values, ignoring their dissimilarities, at least for a while, with the cognition that this alliance is the only way to change the authoritarian regime and build a new regime that is firmly committed to the founding values of the democratic republic.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/6/5/1659099887790.jpeg" style="display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" ratio="1.79" width="550" fr-original-style="display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">BBC TurkishAlthough the opposition alliance claims to represent different ideologies and social components across the political spectrum, it has been doubtful since its inception to officially or unofficially include the Kurdish movement, one of the most powerful political movements in Turkey, and thus the HDP, in the alliance. The HDP has a remarkable place in Turkish politics with its 10-12% vote share and its power of representation among Kurdish voters. As Turkey is heading towards the most significant elections in its history, the 10-12% voting rate represented by the HDP is vital for the opposition alliance aiming to win the elections. In the 7 June 2015 elections, HDP passed the threshold and took away the AK Party's power to rule alone. The party maintains its critical place in Turkish politics for the 2023 elections.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Politics confined to the discourse of security and survival</h2>The AK Party-MHP coalition, which is either the creator or one of the causes of every crisis Turkey is currently experiencing, cannot solve any problem like every government that has completed its political life. But they conduct politics based on the management of perceptions to continue their existence. While creating a political atmosphere in which society has polarised around race, sect, and political views, every field of politics has securitized through the discourse of national security and survival, and the living spaces of different political views and opposing voices have narrowed systematically. The security discourse has been created through two terrorist organizations: FETÖ (Gülenist Terrorist Organization) and PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party).In general terms, all opposition voices raised against the government are engraved as FETÖ members and excluded from the legal framework, while the HDP is identified with the PKK and isolated from both society and the political arena. In almost all political debates, pro-government journalists, People's Alliance deputies, and senior politicians labeled citizens who complain about the economy and opposition deputies as FETÖ members or "provocateurs fed by foreign powers." &nbsp;It's creating a political atmosphere in which neither political nor economic problems can be discussed in the public sphere and which is confined within the security discourse.The fact that the opposition alliance keeps its relations with the HDP at a minimum level despite its vital importance for winning the 2023 elections, and its open statements that no official alliance will be entered into, also fragments the opposition bloc as a barbed wire created by the securitized political atmosphere.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">A new vision for the opposition</h2>Selahattin Demirtaş said, "AKP is a structure that makes politics based on perceptions rather than facts. It uses this method more frequently and recklessly, especially during election periods. Even if the opposition produces so strong and concrete projects and fact-based politics, it cannot reach large masses without breaking the perceptions created by the AKP." Demirtaş clearly defines the AKP's politics based on perceptions.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/6/5/1659099952131.jpeg" style="display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" ratio="1.60" width="550" fr-original-style="display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">T24"HDP is not an extension, spokesperson, or supporter of the PKK. It has no ties with the PKK. We must be able to explain this to the Turkish public. A party conducting democratic politics cannot have ties with an armed organization.What I am saying for HDP is that it should endeavor to make its line more visible. A significant part of society lives in division fear, weapons, violence, and terror. The government is constantly scratching these fears and directing anger toward HDP. Therefore, the HDP has turned into a scapegoat."<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Concern about creating space for "doves"</h2>As I have mentioned before, Demirtaş's clear distancing between the HDP and the PKK not only tries to create a new space by freeing politics from security and survival discourses but also tries to disable the political strategy of the government based on perception management and polarization. The strategy of purging the HDP's moderate politicians, especially Demirtaş, from the political arena and sending them to prisons, while leaving the more radical and PKK sympathizers outside, has long been one of the main tactics of the current government to isolate the HDP politically and prevent a possible alliance between the opposition parties. With this discourse, Demirtaş is also concerned about breaking the political influence of the hawks within the HDP and creating more space for the doves."We have to convincingly explain that we do not have an agenda of division.""To get out of this bind, it would be appropriate for the HDP to give more messages of unity and peace, and to make its policies in this direction concrete and visible. If necessary, we have to convey that we will bring internal peace to the country several times a day, convey our policies that will permanently end violence, convincingly explain that we do not have an agenda of division, and bring the whole society together around the feelings of peace and brotherhood.""We should never use the language of anger because the attacks against us are intense and ruthless, and we should not be caught up in feelings of political revenge. Instead of saying, "They did this to us, they said that to us, so we will get tougher," we should resolutely resist on the democratic grounds of legitimate struggle."His words aim to bring a new discourse and paradigm to both Kurdish politics and the HDP. Recognizing that politics based on victimization and revenge for the past does not bring any benefit to Turkey, the perception that all our problems can only be solved through the construction of a democratic regime brings both voters and opposition parties a concrete answer to the question of which foundations the new Turkey will be built.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Is it possible to form an inclusive alliance among the opposition parties?</h2>The opposition alliance, which have established with the aim of transition to a strengthened parliamentary system and the reconstruction of a democratic regime, stands as the only option to change the authoritarian regime created by the AK Party-MHP coalition. Although there is an ever-increasing success rate in the surveys and in determining the political agenda, two significant issues seem to regulate the fate of both the alliance and the elections: The joint candidate and the alliance with the HDP.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/6/5/1659099993256.jpeg" style="display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" ratio="1.79" width="550" fr-original-style="display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">T24Although there are various speculations about the joint candidate, there is still no certainty. The only fact we know is that "a person who will cover all segments of the society and who understands the economy" will be the candidate as described by CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. But how inclusive will this joint candidate be? For example, will he also represent the HDP? Demirtaş makes the following statement about the joint candidate:"Our Co-Chairs have repeatedly given the message that we are open to the idea of a joint candidate. It is the official policy of the party and we will insist on a joint candidate until the last moment. If not, HDP will enter the elections with its candidate. What else can we do?The opinions and suggestions of not only the HDP but also left parties outside the parliament, professional chambers, trade unions, women's organizations, bar associations, and environmental organizations should be taken into consideration so that the joint candidate can be the joint candidate of the society."Of course, for the opposition alliance and the HDP to field a joint presidential candidate, an alliance must first be formed. To prevent this scenario, which is its biggest fear, the People's Alliance is putting all its trump cards on the field. Both the fact that the conservative-right-leaning parties within the opposition alliance do not favor such an alliance because they think that it would cost them votes and the systematic criminalization of the HDP lead to the conclusion that such an alliance is not possible in the short term.Selahattin Demirtaş also said, "Under the current conditions, institutional cooperation between the table of six (opposition allinace) and the HDP-centred opposition does not seem likely. The main reason for it is the perceptions produced by the AKP and the failure of the opposition to respond to these perceptions with a bold move for change. Of course, the opposition alliance is not solely responsible for this. The HDP also has shortcomings and responsibilities. It does no one any good to stick the needle into everyone without first sticking the needle into ourselves," he blames the failure to establish the alliance on the AK Party, not the opposition, and creates an opportunity for HDP to self-criticize.In particular, the sympathies of radical figures within the HDP towards the PKK and their rejection of the party's Turkeyification (party's moving away from particular focus on Kurdish ethnic nationalism) strategy constitute a fundamental obstacle to the alliance between the opposition alliance and the HDP. Demirtaş's statement "let's stick the needle in ourselves first" is an open call to the party to liquidate the radical figures within the HDP or to withdraw politically. Such a restructuring process within the HDP will also prepare a powerful ground for the collapse of the AK Party's strategy of perceptions.HDP has to break down all legal or illegal ties with the terrorist organization, which has inflicted wounds on Turkish society that are very difficult to close and cost the lives of thousands of people. And the silencing of all voices within the party can be called PKK propaganda, the HDP needs to adopt a political approach that can embrace all segments of society and open up space for a possible alliance with opposition parties.<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">The opposition has a more difficult task than winning the election</h2>"Wherever we expect respect for our sensitivities, we have to show the necessary respect for the sensitivities of others.If we expect a Kurdish opening from the other opposition, we, as HDP, need to make a Turkish opening. We need to embrace all of Turkey with self-confidence, without letting our victim identity lead us into a psychology of oppression or anger.If the opposition continues to surrender to perceptions despite our correct moves, we will have the right to stick them with the stick then."Demirtaş's discourse on Turkeyification offers a new road map for the opposition parties for the construction of a democratic and inclusive regime. Evaluating different segments of society, especially Kurdish voters, only based on vote rates may help to win the elections. But it will not contribute to the construction of a democratic and inclusive regime. Moving politics away from the discourses of survival and security, discussing all social and political issues in the public sphere, and building a political understanding in which society's all segments will be represented is a more difficult and significant task for the opposition than winning the elections. The opposition, which claims to undertake this historic task, needs to build a new politics by breaking stereotyped fears and prejudices. We are hoping for a new Turkey where doves will prevail over hawks in society and politics.

Felicity ile ilgili hikayeler