The resurgence of the constitutional amendment issue submitted by the People's Alliance to the Turkish Grand National Assembly last December, ostensibly aimed at ensuring 'freedom for the headscarf,' has been one of the most notable political events in the past two weeks. The AKP, in collaboration with the MHP, lacks sufficient parliamentary seats to pass a constitutional amendment without a referendum. In response, they called for a 'right-wing alliance,' seeking support from other right-wing and conservative parties expected to back the amendment. However, it appears that this call, which excludes the CHP, did not receive approval from the parties involved, particularly the IYI Party, the largest party in terms of numerical strength in the Parliament.Indeed, the IYI Party, which had previously expressed reluctance towards the AKP's proposition, declared on August 26th its intention to participate in the upcoming local elections independently. Meral Akşener emphasized her stance against forming alliances and cooperating with other parties. As anticipated in our previous Freedom Observer, the leader of the IYI Party, Meral Akşener, whose strategic objective is to establish a solitary presence within the "center-right" of the political spectrum, became more evident through this announcement. She is evidently moving away from other opposition parties and choosing a solo path.However, it appears unlikely that Akşener will be able to accomplish her strategic objective and simultaneously achieve substantial success in the forthcoming local elections solely based on her own influence. Her estimation of her popularity and her party's strength might be seen as overly optimistic.Simultaneously, it appears that the other parties approached by the AKP for the "right-wing alliance" are displaying reservations towards the idea. Recent statements from the Saadet Party and the Future Party from the past week suggest that these parties have yet to adopt a definitive stance on the proposition and are inclined against engaging in such an alliance.On the contrary, the DEVA Party's response stands out as more principled and seems to signify a clear rejection. The statement explicitly expresses that they will not endorse actions by the government that could lead to societal polarization over the headscarf, especially considering the government's lack of enforcement of existing laws. Furthermore, the statement emphasizes the need for those advocating justice against authoritarian structures to unite. Given the DEVA Party's consistent commitment to liberal-democratic principles, their reluctance to align permanently with the People's Alliance parties, associated with the present autocratic regime, or even with the IYI Party, whose ideological proximity to the MHP in terms of statism and nationalism is evident, is not an unexpected standpoint.

The Freedom Observer

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.

IYI Party ile ilgili hikayeler