What strikes me the most about this election is the democratic maturity observable in both contenders. Republican candidate John McCain called freshly elected Barack Obama and told him, "Now you are my president, too." Moreover, he said in a speech he delivered in Phoenix, his stomping grounds: "May God help this guy. He was my rival, now he will be my president. These are hard days for our country. I'll do my best to help him against hardships."Has the denomination "Republican" before McCain's name aroused the same associations as it did for me? In the name of the Republican People's Party (CHP) the word "Republican" is used together with "people" for added emphasis. Now, what is the likelihood of CHP leader Deniz Baykal giving a similar speech? Unfortunately, the possibility is close to zero. On the contrary, he even boycotted Republic Day even though he was expected to take the lead in promoting enthusiastic celebration of the day on Oct. 29. Baykal, who attended only the ceremony at Atatürk's mausoleum, is still maintaining his timid protest against President Abdullah Gül. One can partially understand why the CHP did not attend the parliamentary session when Gül was elected president, but their failure to attend his oath-taking ceremony at Parliament cannot be explained. In 2000, when Al Gore had been defeated in a controversial election, he attended George Bush's oath-taking ceremony. The main opposition leader's faults include his choice to attend a meeting of village headmen instead of a summit of political party leaders. As it is obvious that he will not come out undamaged, Baykal cannot proceed with an open discussion of legitimacy. Because the elections are decided directly by the voters, it is even more dangerous for him to raise such questions.
This problem of not having the democratic maturity to admit defeat, which is currently personified by Baykal, first entered our recent political history thanks to Süleyman Demirel. In the pre-1980 era, Demirel would refer to Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit as "the head of the government." When Motherland Party (ANAP, now ANAVATAN) leader Turgut Özal became the country's first civilian president, Demirel worked hard with Social Democratic People's Party (SHP) leader Erdal İnönü to manufacture a problem over the legitimacy of Özal's presidency. They refrained from visiting him at the presidential palace, avoided shaking hands with him and left every room when he entered. Improper phrases, such as "toppling him with disgrace," "public notary of Çankaya," and "the fat man in Çankaya," were frequent in those days. Childish methods of not visiting Çankaya and not standing up to show respect are the heritage of that era. The overwhelming interest of people in his funeral swept all this away. However, the incidents, which cannot be explained by the manners of statesmen, and the ensuing crises cannot be forgotten in the minds of the people.
The democratic maturity of the US neocon political movement, which deserves unrestrained criticism because of the troubles they caused for the entire world, arouses jealousy in me. In America we have yet to see any Bekir Çoşkuns writing: "He is not my president. He is only the president of the man who scratches his belly." Perhaps, in marginal fascist bulletins, there may be some who would say: "He is not my president. He is only the president of the black people," but not in mainstream newspapers. We are desperately in need of an opposition mentality that does not confuse being in opposition with being a spoilsport.
