Generals who had staged the coup and shut down all political parties after the 1980 revolution, in their self-declared plans, created one tamed leftist and one tamed rightist party. And they assigned retired generals who they trusted as chairmen of those parties. Assuming that it would eventually be unable to win any victory, they begrudgingly allowed the Motherland Party (ANAP), founded by Turgut Özal, the prime minister of the interim government after the coup, to survive. All the state's possibilities before the elections were mobilized for the success of the political parties that had been established by the generals. Despite this, the election resulted in a great surprise, and ANAP came to power as a single-party government.Efforts to proceed with outright arbitrary and artificial political formations continued later on, and various figures were brought to the forefront as a remedy to the dissolution of the right after Özal. For instance, when we woke up one morning, we saw in the headline of a large newspaper that an accomplished diplomat who had not yet become an ambassador was being hailed as the new savior of the political right. Strangely enough, the diplomat in question bought into the campaign of the media and certain segments of society quit his successful career and entered politics to lead the True Path Party (DYP). What do you think happened then? A great fiasco… I'm sure that the successful former diplomat still regrets having entered politics after being flattered. And he really should be regretful because today he has no place in any part of the Turkish political sphere.
Efforts at artificial political formation are generally devised to merge either the right or the left. However, they always end up sparking a greater division in the right and left wings. We saw an example of this prior to the 2002 elections. Since the Republican People's Party (CHP), which was as unproductive as it is today in generating an alternative political rhetoric -- although it had long been outside Parliament -- did not inspire any hope. And because the Democratic Left Party (DSP), the bigger partner of the tripartite coalition government, was no longer found "leftist enough," they speedily launched into creating a new leftist formation. With high expectations, they established a new leftist party under the leadership of the late İsmail Cem with the support of the media and the bureaucratic elite. This new leftist party was allegedly going to fill the gap opened by the CHP and the DSP and then incorporate these two parties under its roof. However, they left out one detail: the people. Unfortunately, the people did not constitute any part of those plans, and because of that, Cem's party was stillborn and joined the CHP in the following years.
Although every one of the initiatives to present to people allegedly new alternatives that stand no chance against those elected by people has always failed so far -- instead of adopting a very simple and effortless democratic attitude by respecting people's political preferences -- the obsession of the old elite and the media with creating superficial formations has not changed at all.
Those chasing after such futile dreams are exerting much effort today, too. Now that the people's interest is focused on the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), this party should be disposed of by means of the ballot box and through election alliances that must be formed by achieving the impossible. If this cannot be achieved, military coups must be plotted, and this party should be ousted even though it may be through anti-democratic means. Is it that neither the external nor the internal conjuncture is allowing for such an anti-democratic intervention? So this party should be knocked down with a massive blow from the judiciary. This does not provide them with a sufficient solution, either. And because the masses who voted for this party cannot be exiled from the country en masse, the foundations for a new formation that will replace this party in the event of its closure -- or that will at least baffle the people -- should be laid immediately.
The game plotted with the support of the media and the bureaucratic elite based on the former deputy prime minister and current AK Party Central Executive Board (MYK) member Abdüllatif Şener's decision to not stand for elections last year in the name of political ethics and his determined stance by giving, during the last one year, the impression that he was an impartial political figure will add another one to the artificial political formations, some of whose examples we have provided above.
In response to the question "Are there really preparations to establish a new party?" Şener -- whose every step is portrayed as that of a paragon of political ethics by some media organs and circles, and although he is still actively involved in the administration organs of the AK Party -- said the following: "No work has been launched yet. There is need for an optimal atmosphere for such a step. I have been trying to create this atmosphere. It cannot be said that I'm not making efforts to gather sufficient support from people."
Well, what shall we say? Woe unto the understanding which exemplifies such a man for political ethics! Woe unto the political indecisiveness which fails to kick out such a political figure who has turned into the puppet of the opposition powers! Woe unto the allegedly scornful greedy people who do not have the fortitude to resign from the party they berate and go their own way!
