The deplorable situation that the CHP has fallen into by severing its ties with social democracy has made some commentators so pessimistic that they have begun to suggest that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), considered a conservative-right party, deserves to be an SI member more than the CHP because its commitment and belief in social democracy as proven by its reformist actions so far are stronger than those of the CHP.Sabah's Nazlı Ilıcak finds it very interesting that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which stands accused by staunchly secular circles of attempting to bring Shariah rule to Turkey, has evolved to become a party that could be granted membership in SI. All this as Baykal decided not to go to Athens, fearing that he would be slapped by the SI. Referring to Professor İdris Küçükömer, who diagnosed the CHP's problem years ago, she says, "While the CHP has been representing the military-civilian bureaucratic oligarchy, parties which were labeled conservative-right, such as the AK Party, organized themselves among the middle class and got their power from the public." In the course of the CHP's history, she says only when it was led by the late Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit between 1972 and 1980 did the CHP deviate from its statist line, and Ecevit became prime minister thanks to the votes of the middle and lower classes; however, after Ecevit, the CHP returned to its statist line. Another problem with the CHP, in Ilıcak's view, is that not only SI but also groups in the West with various tendencies do not welcome those who engage in politics that welcome the military meddling in politics.
Yeni Şafak's Abdullah Muradoğlu, assuming that the CHP's active membership in SI ended after Baykal refused to attend the SI meeting, discusses whether the AK Party can fill the CHP's seat in the international organization. He remarks that it has often been mentioned that although the AK Party is socially conservative, its actions bear social-democrat traces. "There are many both in Turkey and in SI that say the AK Party is more social democrat than the CHP. Let alone the CHP's social democrat credentials, its democratic credentials are in question. Thus, European social democrats have invited the AK Party to become a member of the SI, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has asked them to expel the CHP first," recalls Muradoğlu. In light of this, he sees it very likely for the AK Party to apply for membership in SI if the decision is made to expel the CHP.
Milliyet's Taha Akyol, who complains of a lack of a real center-left party in Turkey, says the more the AK Party opened itself to the West, the more the CHP isolated itself. The CHP's isolation and the prospects of its expulsion from SI, says Akyol, bring about some problems for Turkey, causing it not to be represented sufficiently in the world's left-wing platforms. If the pro-Kurdish Democrat Society Party (DTP) remains the only party that represents Turkey in SI, it will be the CHP's fault at the end of the day. "Turkey needs a center-left party. The CHP no longer meets this need. If only it could develop a real social democrat movement, as it did in the 1970s," says Akyol.
