Turkey's political struggles take summer leave

It has been a tough winter and spring in the political arena in this country. Turkey has changed its prime minister, the president has strengthened his political base and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has restructured its executive branch during this period.

Also during this period, Turkey has seen massive turmoil in its nationalist movement as the ultraconservative Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) plunged into chaos with four opposition MHP dissident groups challenging the leadership of the party chairman, Devlet Bahçeli. One opposition group led by Meral Akşener and supported by the Gülen Movement and some big business groups tried to topple Bahçeli through a series of plots. They were then joined by three other party opposition groups who felt the party would fail badly in the next elections under Bahçeli, and so wanted to replace him.

The struggle was harsh. The sides used all kinds of political and judicial means to undermine each other and went to the extremes of holding makeshift conventions to dodge the system and topple Bahçeli. All these failed. The dissident groups targeted July 10 as their convention date, but it was barred by court ruling, throwing them into disarray.

The dissidents met recently to chart a new course, but clearly they are in disarray. So the struggle within the MHP to topple Bahçeli seems to have reached a dead end. Thus everyone agrees in the MHP that they should shelve the fighting until October. But of course this does not mean all is forgotten. The unrest within MHP rank and file, in the party executive and in the parliamentary group remains and has to be dealt with after October.

On the government front, the AK Party with its new chairman, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, is working on a new constitution that will also introduce a presidential system to Turkey. The AK Party is also working on a constitutional amendment that will allow elected presidents to be members of political parties. Besides all this, the AK Party is also working on changing sluggish parliamentary statutes, which is needed to speed up the process in Parliament. But all these cannot be realized in a short period of time and will undoubtedly create a tough struggle between the AK Party and the opposition parties. At this point the AK Party needs the MHP's backing to push through these changes in vital legislation and take them to a referendum. That is why it is so important for the MHP to put its house in order.

However, the parliamentary summer recess that was supposed to be on July 1 has passed and it is clear that Parliament will take leave on Aug. 1. Thus all the hard work will have to be shelved until after September.

For the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), things are business as usual. The party cannot come up with any feasible suggestions or projects to challenge the government and thus out of frustration Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu continues to prefer screaming insults at and accusations of the government. This crates unease among the social democrat ranks, with Muharrem İnce starting a movement to challenge Kılıçdaroğlu. He is traveling across the country, addressing crowds and also collecting signatures from party delegates to convene an emergency convention to try to topple Kılıçdaroğlu. But with the parliamentary recess, the struggle within the CHP will also be put on hold until October.

So this summer will not be such a hot political summer after all.