On the anniversary of the 2024 Great Victory, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued a call to "keep the homefront solid," and framed its strategic importance in subsequent speeches through regional and global developments.
Over the past two years, regional and global uncertainties, wars and conflicts have shown that the call to keep the homefront solid was indeed a policy framework of strategic value.
To our country's north, the Russia-Ukraine war has been ongoing for nearly five years. In the Iran-Israel/U.S. war, an agreement still does not appear on the horizon. Israel's plan for regional war and chaos continues with new attacks. The genocide against Palestinians has not been stopped.
Although Türkiye is the country most exposed to being affected by these conflicts, the continuation of political and administrative stability – through political leadership, a cohesive alliance politics, and the foresighted efforts of the governing cadres – has made it possible to minimize the costs.
Looking back today, the accuracy of the policy of fortifying the homefront, of a Türkiye without terrorism and a region without terrorism, is an undeniable truth.
At the Victory Day ceremony on Aug. 30, Erdoğan spoke of a new approach. He continued to refer, in subsequent speeches, to this approach – which he described as the "grand Türkiye consensus" – pointing to the social and parliamentary consensus that has emerged around the terror-free Türkiye process.
Answering journalists' questions on his return from Kyrgyzstan, he referred to this concept again with the words: "We will strengthen the homefront. Despite our differences, we will unite around the pillar of Türkiye. We call this the grand Türkiye consensus."
In recent days, at the AK Party Rize Expanded Provincial Chairmen's Advisory Council Meeting, he emphasized that as the world and the region pass through a critical process, politics too must adapt itself accordingly.
He spoke of the need to abandon "front politics," based solely on opposition to those in power, to strengthen dialogue while preserving differences of opinion, and to make competition in service and unity around national interests the basis.
In his speech, with his call for "Ankara-centered politics," he once again expressed what he meant by this concept in these words: "The grand Türkiye consensus – when we say this, this is what we mean. It is the unity, togetherness and shared destiny of 86 million. It is uniting around the same ideals."
The call for a grand Türkiye consensus carries strategic importance for Türkiye at a time when the center of politics is weakening around the world, political parties are drifting toward the extremes, and social and political tensions are eroding states' capacity for decision-making.
Today, in many developed countries, identity conflicts and ideological hardening are weakening long-term policy production. As in many other matters, Türkiye encountered the political crises the world is now facing at an earlier stage. It was able to overcome these crises through strong government, a resolute political leader, effective politics and legitimate governance. It has accumulated experience on this matter.
Experience rationalizes political learning.
Our country's opposition parties, too, should benefit from Türkiye's near- and long-term experience. It is well established that confrontational front politics has brought them no gains. In this context, the call for a grand Türkiye consensus should not be seen as a politics of annexing the opposition to those in power. This call should be assessed as a search for the construction of a political ground that will make our country more resilient and effective in the face of global uncertainties and regional fragilities.
The strategic importance – for both those in power, the opposition, and Türkiye – of the political approach launched two years ago to fortify the homefront has now been understood.
Going forward, it should not be overlooked that the call for a grand Türkiye consensus, which carries strategic value, also offers the opposition parties the possibility and opportunity to develop a positive and constructive politics.
