New route to reconciliation culture in AK Party

The April 16 constitutional referendum was a milestone for Turkey's democracy.

The fact that the old system, in which the bureaucracy was strengthened and politics was undermined, was embedded in history through the popular vote, will have profound impacts in the national and international area.

Not only are the organizations at home, which generated strength from the old order, ae quite troubled, but also the powers which used the stalemates and the instability-generating power-sharing of the old order in order to easily manage Turkey.

Many people had asked the following question before the referendum which would have such important national and international impacts, "Will the political tension decline and will the country become normal after April 16? Or, does a period of more violent conflicts lie ahead of us?"

Following the referendum, the Republican People's Party (CHP) returned to its own internal strife and it does not seem that it will be able to easily overcome it.

After the referendum, the situation became clear in terms of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), and new opportunities have emerged for it.

The AK Party has set its roadmap, determined its priorities and it seems ready to apply them step by step.

Under the provision of the new Constitution that allows the president to have affiliations to a political party, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned to his party and preparations have begun for the May 21 congress, where he will be voted the AK Party chairman once again.

The AK Party has been Turkey's biggest consensus movement since the day it was founded. It has the experience and cohesiveness that can be transformed into a foundation where different factions can do politics hand in hand again.

However, it should be acknowledged that the propaganda which claims the AK Party polarizes the public, does not tolerate different voices and establishes a repressive regime each day, has found credibility among a broad section of society.

The Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which formed a gang in the police and judiciary, played a great part in the acceptance of this perception.

FETÖ was aware that the strongest feature of the AK Party was the genuine link that it established with society. FETÖ tried to deal the first blow to the AK Party through this.

Now, the AK Party needs to take steps to provide a new and great compromise, taking into account the opportunities offered by the April 16 referendum after so many calamities that the country has overcome.

We have to form a happy medium in which people can talk to each other again, and different ideas can come together.

It is absolutely necessary to achieve this to avoid wasting the country's gains and save our future. The AK Party's has accumulated enough experience in this regard in its first period.

While the AK Party is closing the ranks with the morale of its referendum victory, it has also begun to use an embracing rhetoric on the basis of social consensus, as the new system has forced politics.

"51.4 percent is not the AK Party's vote, and 48.6 is not the CHP's vote," President Erdoğan said, stating that the new system stipulates a political understanding which can receive the majority of public support and observe social consensus to come to power.

Meanwhile Erdoğan also hindered initiatives to create new areas of disintegration and conflict. While returning home from India, he revealed the codes of the new system while talking to journalists.

"It would be wrong to make a distinction between being an Islamist or not, in a political party's works. After all, we do not assign followers to a tekke [dervish lodge]. What is essential for a political party is to seek people who are honest, principled, who love their country and nation, and abide by the principles of the party," he said.