Erdoğan's promising speech

Star's Mehmet Metiner thinks Erdoğan has revealed the direction of the political mentality of Turkey in his speech, which he says is the expression of a new mental paradigm. “It is necessary to correctly read what the AK Party is trying to do. I believe the AK Party's discourse is not rhetoric designed to win more votes in the elections. The rhetoric of the democratic initiative was actually the expression of the concrete steps which will be taken in the coming days. What the prime minister is doing is preparing the psychological groundwork for the democratic steps to be taken,” explains Metiner. In his view, the problems in Turkey are not unsolvable, but the reason for their lack of a solution so far is the existence of psychological barriers which Erdoğan is trying to remove. “Erdoğan draws attention to the fact that the old mentality, which was carved in the memory of the nation by the political parties that are nourished by problems, deepens the lack of solution. He adopts a new and accepting understanding, which will help to eliminate psychological barriers by making reference to the spirit and emotions of this nation,” Metiner explains. For those who do not believe that society should be prepared on the basis of a new understanding so that concrete steps can be welcomed by the public, he says they believe that problems can be solved merely by solution packages. According to Metiner, these are the mental and political habits of the old Turkey; however, Erdoğan says in his speech that we should adopt a new mental and political attitude. “He tells the nation in convincing language that it will not be divided with the reform steps to be taken -- on the contrary, it will be united. The rest will come. There is no need to hurry. We are at the beginning of a new process. Erdoğan's speech should be correctly read because it is the manifesto and the roadmap of the democratic process. The new understanding there plays the key role for us to be open to the idea of a solution,” says Metiner.

Bugün's Adem Yavuz Arslan is one of those who found Erdoğan's speech “promising,” as the prime minister of Turkey talked about universal values and pledged that he would comply with those values. Arslan also thinks that Erdoğan's speech was not just aimed at winning votes and stressed that Erdoğan's credibility and the masses' belief in his sincerity renders him different from other leaders.