Several analytical pieces appeared in the Turkish press about what the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is trying to do. The latest was an interview with the president of a prestigious public survey company. SONAR President Hakan Bayrakçı claims, the interview says, that the AK Party is trying to kill two birds with one stone. “It is trying to win the votes of the Kurds, and it is trying to satisfy the demands of the US and the EU by means of finishing this terror,” Bayrakçı apparently told the press. But according to Bayrakçı, it is not the AK Party but the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) that are benefiting from the initiative.It is the nation that is benefiting from the democratic initiative.
It is this democratic initiative that turned Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from a politician into a statesman.
It is their undemocratic response to this democratic initiative that turned opposition leaders Deniz Baykal and Devlet Bahçeli from politicians into demagogues.
Years ago, Mesut Yılmaz was the prime minister of Turkey and the country was suffering from a very high level of inflation. Yılmaz was asked whether his government was planning to do anything to control the surge in inflation. Yılmaz reportedly said he would not be a second Shimon Peres. Peres is the man who dropped the Israeli inflation rate from 400 percent to less than 10 percent. This success did not bring him any extra votes, and he lost in the following elections. What Yılmaz was saying is that he would not risk his political career by endorsing a painful economic package that would decrease his public support. Together with a colleague of mine, I asked Peres, then the leader of the opposition in his country, what he would say to Yılmaz. “Tell your prime minister that he should care more about what history will say about him and not the next elections,” he said.
If the democratic initiative bears its fruits and the 30-year-old violence comes to an end, and if the human, social and economic capital consumed in fighting terrorism is channeled into economic and political growth, Erdoğan's name will be recorded in Turkish history as that of a hero of peace and democratization. Who will benefit from that?
Is it just and logical to claim that the AK Party is not interested in this historical role and that this initiative is merely an electoral ploy?
What kind of a historical role is the MHP playing?
Up until now the AK Party government did not promise anything more than basic human rights to the Kurdish citizens of this country, but still, it is being accused of treason and of being a puppet of the US and the European Union. What will history say about those putting forth these accusations?
Two days ago, terrorist groups that may or may not have been a part of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) tried to sabotage the democratic initiative through ambushes that cost Turkey seven lives. We all know that these attacks were provocative attacks that wanted to slow down and, if possible, halt the democratic initiative altogether. How will history remember the perpetrators of these awful attacks?
In principle, there is no difference between the kind of opposition the MHP is showing and the kind of terrorist attacks that are trying to block the initiative. Under such brutal criticism and given such terrorist attacks, it is of course hard for the government to continue on with the initiative. The AK Party may lose its traditional nationalist grassroots support in the next election.
So what? Does this mean the opposition and not the AK Party has benefited from this initiative?
The nation benefited from this initiative, and the AK Party is a part of the nation.
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