This is indicated by the fact that participation in the referendum was higher than expected. The referendum, which was in a sense a vote on the AK Party, passed with a vote of 67.5 percent in favor. Similar factors were at play in the July 22 elections, for which the rate of participation reached 85 percent. In addition to participation, the actual tallies of the votes are also important. The rate of those who voted "yes" was 69 percent and that of those who voted "no" 31 percent. A quick note: There were 74 provinces in which more than 50 percent of the votes were in favor of the referendum. Only in seven provinces did more than 50 percent vote against it.So what does this mean? The answer to this question lies in the deep layers of Turkish politics. A type of conceptualization not referred to in books on political science constitutes the main problem in Turkish politics. And this is the deep longing for what is called "the integration of the state and the nation." Millions of conservative and religious people resort to this conceptualization but are usually unable to explain what they are referring to.
The state is a non-personal (artificial person) concept; it is abstract and exists as an instrument; still it is not palpable and visible. How an artificial person can be a party to a conciliation process is really difficult to explain. The state (in democratic regimes), is a mechanism agreed upon by people (constitution/laws) and made to run by civil servants (bureaucracy). In terms of the theory of democracy, the state is only this and nothing else. However, the situation changes when it appears as a different phenomenon brought into existence by a handful of power elites in countries like Turkey during breakthroughs in its history. Obviously, there is a great distance between such a phenomenon and the people.
The "nation" is an imaginary congregation consisting of the elites within the state -- a process of political construction. The nation is a "synthetic" product; therefore, the state decides what is national and what is not in almost all non-Western societies. In brief, the state is a non-personal instrument, an abstract concept, whereas nation is material and takes its place on the confrontational and hectic stage of modern history as an abstract concept and a construction without a historical equivalent.
Looking from this angle, it is possible to say this: The most problematic part of Turkish politics, "the integration of the state and the nation," is in reality a relationship that doesn't function. If it is stated at a more technical and comprehensible level that "the relationship between the governor and the governed is based on mutual consent, acceptance and good relations," we should immediately state that this is meaningless in a well-functioning democracy because the system has devolved the authority on decision making and initiative taking on the governed due to its theoretical acknowledgements. Simply, the governed group elects or discharges the governors through obvious ways and methods. Is this not the simplest definition of democracy known by all: Democracy is a regime of taking or handing over power non-violently in certain periods through elections.
When we look at the referendum held on Oct. 21, 2007, people expressed their views and demands regarding the state with participation that can be considered high. The fundamental motive that led Turkey first to the post-modern memorandum of April 27 and then to the July 22 general elections was the already existing tension between the state and the government starting to weigh heavily on the government in a very disturbing manner just when Abdullah Gül was nominated. It is as if the president represents the state and the government represents the people -- and they have a mission to confront each other within the system. If people directly elect the president, they will take possession of the state. The same factor played a major role on July 22 and Oct. 21. Namely, the non-personal/artificial person and people/nation united on the same line and were reconciled with each other. A great majority of people in Turkey -- particularly those who now belong to the center right, making up over 70 percent of voters -- attached such a meaning to the elections.
So, have the state and the nation been really reconciled with each other in Turkey? The events we experience in the coming period will tell.
