Media and restrictions

To understand this, we should have a look at what the party did in the past and what it is doing today. The Turkish Republic established the state on a “narrow” ground, excluding pious Sunnis, Alevis, Kurds and leftists. It drew a “model” and “ordered” everyone to become like that model. That model was a citizen who is Turkish, a Sunni, a little pious and a Kemalist. Those who were different from this model experienced difficult times; some were executed; some stayed in jail for years. When the AK Party came to power, it promised to establish a state that embraces every citizen. It promised to respond to the early republican era’s restrictions with “initiatives.” As a result of this policy, we have seen initiatives for Kurds and Alevis. In foreign policy, the nonsense of “a Turk has no friend other than a Turk” was ended and an “opening” to the world was seen with the slogan of “zero problems with neighbors.” But after a certain point, the AK Party was suddenly crippled by the bends like a diver who has gone too deep. With a sharp turn, it adopted a model of “a Sunni Turk man.” But Turkey can only embrace peace and prosperity with “openings.” AK Party voters are calling it to return to its old days.