One year has passed since the Gezi Park protests, which began on May 31, 2013 and rapidly evolved into a wave of mass demonstrations and died down after approximately two weeks.

As we are at the first anniversary of the "Gezi Park" incidents that truly shocked the whole nation, it seems imperative to take stock of the critical 12 months that have elapsed since then from an economic perspective.

The mine explosion in Soma which claimed 301 lives gave new life to an old debate about Turkish society's capacity for solidarity.

A critical political juncture in the wake of presidential and general elections will be held within less than a year.

Turkey's local elections which looked more like parliamentary elections are finally behind us. Never had an election season in the country's history been so aggressive and tense.

In an atmosphere where the Kurdish issue is interpreted as Turkey's most important political problem aside from terror, the position and responsibility of both the government and the Kurdish political movement is growing.

Once again, Turkey is bracing itself for an extremely tense and contentious atmosphere of political debate as we approach what is undoubtedly the most critical municipal election in recent years.

While no big surprises are expected from the local elections, the perception of success or failure of the ruling party will have an impact on its calculations with respect to the presidential election and the parliamentary election in 2015.

Identifying the Dec. 17 operation as an attack against the AK Party government by the Gülen Movement, conservative voters are likely to rally behind the Turkish prime minister in upcoming local elections. Consequently, the controversy might increase the ruling party's popularity among its core constituencies

Turkey's strategic journey towards a more developed, democratic and prosperous future will continue regardless of conjunctive challenges.

All of the Western media, having received their information from the same 20-30 top individuals, all of whom share the same point of view, paint a particular picture of Turkey.

The slanderous claim of Erdoğan-al Qaeda link has been systematically voiced by the Gulen Group in Turkey. It is impossible to distinguish the mentality behind this slander from the Baath mentality in Syria or the US mentality in Afghanistan.

Since the operational political engineering that the Gulen Movement has launched by leveraging its power within the bureaucracy corresponds to a developing new form of tutelary, it threatens democracy in Turkey.

The December 17, 2013 process must succeed to transform the structure of the Gulen Movement into a civilian-religious movement for the sake of the religion, the movement and the country.

Foreign policy activities of Turkey continue in distant and different lands of the world, and Somalia is the best example of this.

The political performance presented in the Diyarbakır visit of Massoud Barzani, President of the Kurdish Regional Administration in Northern Iraq, and of Erdoğan will create an effect of clearing the early reservations of the Kurdish Movement about the political ground and political strength of Erdoğan.