Those who deem it a “regime” to govern the society by instilling delusions and fears are given the heebie-jeebies by the democratization process. “Democracy? Fine… But we cannot put the ‘gains’ of the republic at stake,” they say.The thing troubling them is that “those” common people are in power. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has been representing “those like it” since its first election victory on Nov. 3, 2002. And the recent landslide victory on July 22 with the 47 percent of the votes received shows that “those people” are going too far. And now they have elected a president in contradiction with the “norms.” On top of these, they have set out to draft a new constitution that will be centered on the individual, expand liberties and expedite the democratization process.
Strangely enough, these groups who are fiercely opposing the new constitution, including the main opposition the Republican People’s Party (CHP) itself, remarked in the past that the constitution of Sept. 12 was like a straitjacket people had been forced to wear and kept reiterating that it had to change. And now they are looking to generate a crisis to prevent this change from being realized.
A constitution cannot be drafted amidst fights. The group in question is only a small minority whose voice is very loud. This minority raised its voice as high as possible before the July 22 elections, but people did not buy into their unfounded theories. However they should not be allowed to cast aspersions on the current project, making people groundlessly suspicious, or to heighten the tension in the country through an artificially created agenda. And this should be achieved by the AK Party’s essential staff who should now take bigger and faster steps. A second thing is that they should be able to handle this process without loosening their grip on the initiative.
More importantly, the AK Party should not appear to be the owner of the constitution. We know very well that they don’t think like that. However, the appearance -- the exterior -- is also very significant. For that reason the new constitution should be claimed by an overwhelming majority of society and achieving this is possible by exposing the small minority that doesn’t want any change.
It’s crystal clear that this minority will spark a crisis over secularism, and that is also how they want to prod the military into action. Reading the columns of some of them make one’s hair stand on end. Their new method of boosting this minority’s morale can be summed up in this sentence: “Nobody should be surprised to have not seen a serious reaction on the part of the military; you should watch the military from now on.”
Turkey does lack a democratic culture and democratic manners, that’s true. However, Turkey’s most serious problem is its intellectuals and media. Can we regard someone as an intellectual whose thoughts are imprisoned by the official ideology, who is detached from his own people and who thus looks down on them, and who gives unconditional support to those assuming the duty of social engineering in a self-declared fashion? There are those of them who do nothing but embarrass us in the name of science and scientists. Where in the world would you come across such academics and lawyers committed to making statements allegedly on behalf of the military, instead of broadening the intellectual and cultural horizon of society? And how about members of the media? For example, a columnist of a paper with a high circulation rate who hosted the prime minister “one on one” on his TV show many times is singing coup songs now that he has probably received his mobilization order, and asking, “Why is the military not staging a coup?”
The era of such intellectuals, journalists, and columnists is finally coming to an end. As the voice of the democrats rises, theirs will be gone, and as the power of the alternative media increases, their influence will wane. Strengthening the alternative media in this term is a democratic consciousness. We can eliminate the instigations, manipulations and conspiracies only by doing this.
This small group of people in question is suffering a serious case of indigestion. They keep asking, “This country belongs to us; where the heck have you emerged from?” So, we should say and show that this country belongs to all of us friends. We have always been here; however, you did not regard any other bird but the crow as a bird and any other group of people but you as real human beings. Now, come let’s respect our positions. There is enough space around the table for all of us.
We should continue talking about these realities with patience and tolerance, but at the same time we should be revealing their plots.
