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A strong right-wing alliance on its way in Turkey
[Hurriyet Daily News] On the same day, Jan. 18, social democratic main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu visited MHP leader Devlet Bahceli to (in vain) "remind him once again" that the presidential model would lead to "one-man rule in a party-state" Bahceli had already stated before the meeting that he had said everything he needed to, and would remain in favor of the shift.The next day, Yildirim added to his remarks on bringing MHP ministers into the cabinet, saying that in the referendum there would be the AK Parti and the MHP on one side for a "stronger ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... under the presidential system," while on the other side there would be the CHP and the Kurdish problem-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). That is a smart move to give a subliminal message to voters, since the AK Parti denounces the HDP as the legal extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a terrorist organization by law, despite the fact that the objections of the CHP and the HDP against the presidential system differ in motivation, reasoning and policy. You can read more from Gizem Karakus’s story in today’s Hurriyet Daily News about how the AK Parti has been planning to carry out a joint referendum campaign with the MHP. What Prime Minister Yildirim is pointing to could be the largest front in Turkey’s political system, bringing Islamist, conservative, Turkish nationalist, and center-right voters under one roof. Turkey has experienced a number of right-wing coalitions in the past, notably the three-party "Nationalist Front" coalitions in the second half of the 1970s between center-right, Islamist and Turkish nationalist parties. However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... no such coalition was seen after the 1980 military coup. There was only a brief center-right-Islamist coalition in 1996-97 called "Refah-Yol," which was brought to an end with resignations due to pressure from the military and judicial establishment of the time, labelled the "post-modern coup." If what Yildirim is pointing to actually happens, an unnamed coalition will be formed incorporating almost all of Turkey’s right-wing tendencies, in the still heated post-July 2016 coup attempt political atmosphere. The rise of the right in such a form paralels the rise of the right in Europe and elswhere, in line with global tendencies. It also opens up new windows for a new set of political uncertainities. Posted by: Fred 2017-01-21 |
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