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Supporters of the CHP cheer prior to election results. CHP came second place after the winning AKP |
Nothing seems to fit more properly than this Turkish proverb in describing the elections. Years of mismanagement, corruption and economic hardships helped to form Sunday’s extremely dramatic, but more or less expected, results.
As I anticipated earlier, all was set, politically, for a crucial moment in Turkish history. One problem was, some parts of the political elite did not want to believe it.
So we are now witnessing a delayed cleansing of the old-fashioned political class of Turkey after a very troublesome decade. Four of the five parties in the old Parliament are now out, with up to 85 percent -- or so -- of the deputies having to leave their posts to newcomers.
This is rather unprecedented. What the other countries did immediately after the end of the Cold War had to be done in rather extraordinary conditions -- lengthy economic crises and a messy international scene with Iraq, Cyprus, and vague prospects for an EU membership option -- with a very tough kick indeed.
The political center had been on the brink of collapse for some years. The image of the mainstream right wing was distorted deeply by corruption allegations, palace intrigues, selfishness and extreme insensitivity in issues that really mattered to people from middle classes down: unemployment, increasing income gaps, hunger and poverty, decay in moral values.
The so called left had been bruised by inner fights, and was unable to solve the knots of how to restore and redefine itself, ending up in, at the final stages, not being able to say anything at all to segments of the society that seek economic justice and enhanced political freedom.
As the time was out for Tansu Ciller, leader of the True Path Party (DYP), and Mesut Yilmaz, leader of the Motherland Political Party (ANAP), whose cat and mouse game with each other finally became the reason for a red card, time also ran out for Bulent Ecevit, chairman of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) and Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP).
A merciless verdict indeed, this one. Bahceli was probably the least to deserve it, if one sees it from his point of view: he always acted in a lucid manner, said what he meant and stood for things without any twists or turns. He is an honest politician who could deal with the tough task of taming a party that had a tradition of violence in earlier times. He tried hard to pull it into the center, but only to a certain point. His miscalculation in expecting to come out winning the early election caused him a lot of grief, surely. And he acted nobly, as he stated quickly that he would step down.
The reason Yilmaz lost a great deal has yet to be explained. One reason, however, is the widespread image of ANAP as the party most deeply involved in corruption. The task of changing that image was too hard, if not impossible for him. The party is already in deep disarray, and it may even disappear from the scene for good.
Ciller might do the same: step down. DYP was very hopeful and the level of disillusion will trigger a rebellion hard to overcome. She ruled hard, rejected advice, and was totally unable to interpret the changes in society. Blinded by political greed, she was unable to realize that her style was false, old and patronizing. However, one should take Ciller’s proposed resignation with caution. According to the rules of Turkish politics, a cynical politician should know when to hide and when to reappear.
This one became Ecevit’s nightmare. Easy to believe him when he said that he could not have predicted anything like this. DSP has imploded totally, losing around 20 percent, and turning into a political nonentity after having been the major party in the coalition. This, too, is unprecedented in Turkey ’s political history. DSP will quite surely be disappearing permanently from politics.
We are left here in Turkey with a very clear message. Our selfish politicians finally received their cards. A new political class is entering with the AKP. But the problem is not over yet. By choice, the old style politicians, under the umbrella of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), will still be there. In a way, this could be a struggle geared mainly by the opposition.
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