The General Meeting held the day before signaled that the new term will see quite active political traffic. The main opposition Republican People Party, CHP, co-operating with the Motherland Party, ANAP, and, the True Path Party, DYP, gaining the support of the independent deputies, managed to call the Assembly for a meeting to discuss the issue of terror.
The AK Party was politically left outside and alone, unable to say a word about a subject such as terror that society is very sensitive about, whereas it could very well have gone inside and taken the initiative to help the assembly to “be a single body” by getting a proclamation published.
Would that work to the advantage of fighting against terrorism? I suppose not. However, it would not be disadvantageous in anyway; at least it would raise the morale of society. Recently increasing terrorist unrest is causing society to have serious concerns, and the number of people suffering nightmares in a psychologically damaging atmosphere such as this is considerably high. Would Dogu Perincek’s line on defending anti-western introversion, which specifies an extreme point, otherwise be considered so important?
The AK Party was left out of the terrorism-related meeting; in contrast to this, the opposition gave the impression of being a whole. ANAP and DYP leaders shared the same line in the General Council. I know that there are some in Ankara who hope to make this become a reality; I could just as easily say that there are some that are quite excited by such an image.
Being left outside, AK Party made it possible for the other parties to act en bloc, which it could very well have stopped from happening by making use of sophisticated political tactics. Can the combined action of the opposition be taken forward? It will not be easy to do that if this corporation is extended to include any action later on.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to assert that some formation of common political sensitivity has begun regarding such topics as Cyprus, Northern Iraq, and the European Union (EU). Let’s make an interesting point on this level: The EU has affected the course of Turkey’s internal politics, and in turn, discussions about Turkey’s membership are leading the political course in Europe…
The parties apart from AK Party are basing their election-related strategies on taking advantage of a wind of nationalism that has once again started to blow. The government might soon face a more inveterate oppositional bloc. This will not adversely affect the works at the assembly as far as the AK Party is concerned; however, this will reflect badly on the society and it will have some impact on the elections.
Turkey has been suffering from terrorism for years, which is why it is a subject that is highly sensitive to deal with. It would not be right to expose it to the internal politics in a way that would allow the entire world to observe it; otherwise it is bound to produce disadvantageous results. Something that might be to the advantage of the party might be disadvantageous for Turkey. There is such a side to terrorism which has become visible in the course of events that we are experiencing. It easily allows terror to be taken differently. At this point, a huge responsibility falls on the shoulders of party leaders. Terrorism is not just an issue that only security forces need to deal with, but also that politics needs to cope with…
The previous day’s scene of the General Council was not pleasing, styles of the ruling and opposition parties’ spokesmen were crude, and so was the content of their speeches. A crude style such as this affected the way the deputies behaved; leading some of them to walk around to the front of the rostrum. Such tensions will have a greater effect on the streets and in the squares.
Blows at the assembly lead to fighting in the street, and turn town squares into battle fields. Turkey has gone a long way experiencing such painful events… Particularly political parties that find expression in society ought to avoid disturbances that can increase tensions and gain them some trivial political advantages.
Both the ambience of the emergency meeting and the news leaking out of the parties imply that in the upcoming days, concerns about political interests will come to the foreground. It is obvious that Ankara is weighted with political tensions. We will soon be going through a period in which the AK Party will be face more difficulties than it had during its first three years of governance; it looks as though that they will face a cruder opposition.
21 September 2005
