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So, Turkey is a democracy

by Hilal Kaplan

Jun 09, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Hilal Kaplan Jun 09, 2015 12:00 am

The greatest success undisputedly belongs to the HDP. Not only did the HDP pass the election threshold, it received 13 percent of the votes, raising its vote rate by approximately 50 percent

So, there is no authoritarian regime in Turkey. So, fair and transparent elections are held in Turkey. So, Turkey is a free country operating in compliance with a living democratic system.

I am writing these sentences because if the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came out of the ballot box powerful enough to form a single-party government, the foreign media would have written the opposite. Turkey was gradually becoming authoritarian, the elections were being rigged and the end of the democratic regime was close. Indeed, they were writing these sentences before the election.

This attitude of the foreign press shows that the essential point that the foreign press cares about in its criticisms is the weakening of the AK Party power in Turkey and such criticisms are only ideological readings that are conjunctural and far from reflecting the reality. As Murtaza Hussain wrote on his Twitter account, "From some news coverage/think tank analysis, you would think that Sisi was the overbearing elected official and Erdogan was the murderous dictator."

Let us come to the results... the AK Party is the political party that outdid its closest opponent by 16 percent, that has parliamentary representatives from 76 cities, received 41 percent of the votes and that continues to hegemonize Turkish politics. However, this result is not sufficient for the AK Party to form a single-party government. That is to say, for the first time in its history, the party will not be able to found a single-party government.

Although the AK Party is the victor of the election by far, this situation unavoidably brings along a feeling of defeat. At this point, the AK Party may be expected to act by seeing that it lost particularly its Kurdish electorates to the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). However, since the reconciliation process requires a stable government, we will see where these results lead us.Despite the fact that the Republican People's Party (CHP) is the main opposition party, it faces a 1 percent meltdown in its votes. It looks like the party will keep wandering around a vote rate of 25 percent, which is not very successful.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) gained an increase of 2 percent, receiving the votes in reaction to the increase in the HDP's appearance before the media and the expected increase in the HDP's votes created on the Turkish nationalist voters. This 2 percent rate to a large extent points out a shift away from the AK Party.

The greatest success undisputedly belongs to the HDP. Not only did the HDP pass the election threshold, it received 13 percent of the votes, raising its vote rate by approximately 50 percent. Such primary reasons as the inability of the AK Party to tell of its deeds regarding the Kurdish question, its inability to explain the humanitarian and military help it provided for Kobani, and choosing short-sighted candidates for parliamentary representation contributed to the emergence of the HDP's success, because what has raised the HDP's votes are more the Kurdish votes shifting from the AK Party base, amounting to 3-4 percent, than the votes that came from the CHP.
About the author
Hilal Kaplan is a journalist and columnist.
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