Erdoğan gave the impression of a man who had turned into a real statesman from a party leader through his experience as prime minister. I feel obliged to express the visible change in him in many areas that I have been critical of since the foundation of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Let me assess these changes under four titles: 1. Maturity. When asked about what he was feeling on the 10th anniversary of February 28, Mr. Prime Minister said, "I don't want to get stuck in yesterday. As Mevlana said, yesterday was yesterday. We need to look ahead now; we now need to talk about tomorrow." This approach of his made me very happy, indeed, since he himself was among the victims of Feb. 28; he was dismissed from the post of the mayor of Istanbul and consequently imprisoned just because he had cited a couple of lines from a poem by well-known Turkish nationalist poet Ziya Gökalp. Instead of perpetuating the debates, he said that with the responsibility falling on him as the prime minister, it was necessary to talk about the future, which was very befitting for a statesman. That's right; some people are suggesting different things; they want accounts to be settled. Is paving the way for possible provocations by igniting the flames of the past, prior to presidential elections, the right course of action? Or is the right action letting everything settle into a stabilized track, securing the separation of powers within the natural EU accession process?
2. Determination. In response to a question about Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt's remarks on speaking with northern Iraqi leaders, the prime minister gave a very tangible answer in a determined fashion. "The chief of general staff's words were personal; they cannot represent the institution. When you make an institutional statement it causes a chaos. The final institutional word belongs to the government," he said. Thus, underlining that the times ahead will be an initiative era of civil will.
3. Eloquence of style. The answers he gave in regard to questions related to the presidential election were examples of Erdoğan's new style. He said they would consult with the public opinion leaders, the AK Party organization, members and deputies and that they would seek negotiations in accordance with the general view formed resulting from the consultations. "The AK Party will produce a president from this Parliament who will be a unifier, a promoter of love, a consolidator of fraternal ties and who will be able to unite with his people," he said. In the meantime, Erdoğan said the president would be elected from Parliament, thereby putting an end to the discussions on the matter.
4. Wide recognition. When the AK Party was founded, they brought about a new political understanding: It would establish a central party with wide political recognition. However, it hasn't happened as such. I don't want to remind you of my criticism on this matter. The prime minister himself also admitted that it did not happen but added that they would be determined to achieve that in the new Parliament as well. He also said that the female deputies of AK Party would increase and that they will carry a very young team to Parliament. Most importantly, he said: "We will be exerting efforts to form a team that will not have any sort of extremes. We are also currently endeavoring to attract people from the central right and central left to our party as long as they acknowledge and recognize our ideals and principles."
The AK Party is expected to establish a new political understanding and make it the dominating factor in Turkey, thereby politically strengthening the expectation of open dialogue and tolerance in society.
Politics should now cease to be a ground for fighting. What Turkey needs is to develop in a stabilized manner, become an affluent society and to walk with the world while maintaining independence and self-confidence. And at this end, we need the culture of negotiation; we need to love, listen to and better understand one another. The AK Party has this opportunity now.
