Newspaper columnists hail referendum results

Radikal daily’s Oral Çalışlar, who had said he would support the reform package in the referendum, wrote yesterday that the public has shown its choice clearly. Indicating that he comes from a family that has always supported the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Çalışlar wrote that the CHP was usually unable to win elections and that his family would accuse the public of being “ignorant, simple minded and open to the influence of Islamist politicians.” “We lived in a culture of distrust of the public. We always blamed the public, not the CHP. Do I need to stress that the same perception persists in 2010?” he asked in his column. Çalışlar also indicated that workers, villagers and those from the lower classes voted in favor of democratic change to the 1982 Constitution, which was forced on society by the military regime that overthrew the government on Sept. 12, 1980. He also wrote that the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) “needs to analyze” its position not to support the reform package because most of its voters supported it.

“Both the left and the right has to settle old scores with the status quo,” he wrote and added that a boycott by Kurdish voters also showed that their demands for the recognition of their Kurdish identity is at a point of “no return.”

Columnist Tarhan Erdem, also from Radikal, asked yesterday, “What is the CHP going to do?”

Elated by the results of the referendum, Erdem pointed out that some of his friends have chosen not to support the reform package because of their prejudices, formed about eight years ago.“As their brother, I strongly suggest they review their positions by looking at developments and events. Today is a new day, a new beginning. Turkey is going in a good and honorable direction,” he wrote.

Erdem also addressed the government. “The government, instead of introducing a brand new constitution, should now work on the definition and principles of a new constitution.”

Milliyet daily columnist Melih Aşık, from among those who did not support the reform package, wrote yesterday that this was an expected result. “It did not come as a surprise that the ‘yes’ votes won. This is what we expected. But we did not expect the ‘yes’ votes to surpass 55 percent,” he wrote. Underlining the tactics used by the government and the opposition CHP, Aşık wrote that the CHP, instead of talking about the “wrongs” the new package would bring, carried out a campaign as if the referendum were an election. He also wrote that intra-party fights against the new CHP leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, also prevented the CHP from carrying out an effective campaign. He also mentioned the fact that Kılıçdaroğlu was not eligible to vote. “This demonstrated the fact that the CHP’s party mechanisms do not work.”

Most of Hürriyet daily’s columnists said “no” to the reform package, including Tufan Türenç, who wrote yesterday that everyone who believes in democracy should accept the results.

“We should leave aside quarrels and create an environment of compromise to make a democratic constitution. We need to be able to do that as a society. Doing otherwise will spell destruction for our society,” he said in his column.

Türenç saved the rest of his column to criticize Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s views on the presidential system and his alleged plans to run for president in 2012.

The Habertürk daily’s chief columnist, Fatih Altaylı, who said he would vote “no” on the reform package, wrote yesterday that Kılıçdaroğlu was able to consolidate his party’s power despite being alone in the referendum campaign. According to Altaylı, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the CHP and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which effectively boycotted the referendum, all won in the referendum.

“Prime Minister Erdoğan is a remarkable leader and managed to convince people who would not even say hello to supporters of the AK Party to say ‘yes’ [on the referendum]. He has not lost his power despite being in leadership for the last eight years. He managed to consolidate his votes. He showed that he is the most effective leader eight years later and the strongest candidate for either the 2012 or the 2014 presidential term,” Altaylı wrote.