Turkey, From Tension to Transition
In the years after the AKP came to power in November 2002, however, an active struggle against the military-bureaucratic grip on politics led to the eradication of the old regime and a gradual democratisation of the political system.
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The Turkish Political Landscape and the CHP
The biggest obstacle standing in front of the opposition to expand its constituency geographically is its unwillingness to break out of its comfort zone.
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It is necessary to contemplate and understand why, in the face of such radical changes, Turkey's political map, party choices have remained the same.
The AK Party has become the primary party in all seven regions in Turkey. It was able to go toe to toe with the CHP in the Aegean region - due to alliances between the CHP and MHP.
The MHP's inability to create a presence in metropolitan cities was the main cause of the party's dismay on March 30.
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.
Outcome Of The Elections, Erdoğan And The Gülen Movement
The elections will not end polarization in Turkish politics. In fact, this election should be seen as the first phase of the presidential elections of Aug. 10, 2014.
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March 30 Elections and Opposition Parties
The opposition parties neither signal a structural and managerial change in their parties nor offer a different vision for the future in the event they lose the March 30 elections.
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In other words, extra-parliamentary forces working against the government have effectively resulted in Erdoğan's association with democracy, the ballot box and popular will.
What is more important is that if the struggling actors switch to embracing and democratic statements, it is possible they will have already lost credibility in the eyes of the public.
The Dec. 17 operation transformed the local elections into a vote of confidence for the AK Party government. March 30 is no longer about municipalities and town councils but Mr. Erdoğan's political future
The political institution must make legal and institutional arrangements in order to save the sphere of politics from tutelary mechanisms.
Unless this structure is exposed and fenced off, the democratic politics will not be secured.
It is impossible for the old tutelary foundation that is cemented by the Constitution to carry the emerging new edifice of Turkey.
The AK Party was struggling to find a mid-way amid the red lines drawn by the three opposition parties. If getting rid of the Jacobean articles of the junta Constitution was not possible, then at least considerable effort was going to be exerted to subdue the emphasis on ethnicity in those articles.
Turkey will suffer from normalization pains just a while longer. Issues stemming from Kemalism will continue to plague our daily lives until the articles that regulate state-religion, military-civilian and state-citizen relations in the Constitution are amended.
Why do the protestors, a significant majority of whom voted for the CHP, feel under represented? Why should the CHP constituency feel less represented than before?
The Syria crisis, among else, became a mechanism to tame Turkeys self-confidence in the region. Similarly, the riots in Taksim and elsewhere in the 2nd phase were used by some regional and global actors to give a clear warning to Turkey.
What will shape politics and the society in Turkey from now on is not the identity of those who were in Taksim, but who they represented both qualitatively and quantitatively.
