Political processes are driven by revolutionary dynamics

The referendum held on April 16, 2017, to change the system of governance also introduced different dynamics into the political scene.

While the ruling party aims to increase its power and prolong its life, the opposition has tried to catch the “bottom waves”, which comes from the depths of society and tries to be decisive in political philosophy, and react to the demands of those waves.

While the government believed that the 15-year status quo would be maintained and consolidated by the new system with the help of a "union of forces", the opposition saw that it would be impossible not only to direct the process but also to preserve it without reacting to the dynamics of "radical change".

The "peaceful revolutionary" processes that played a decisive role in the country for 20 days, starting from the central square of Istanbul in June 2013, were misread by the government at that time, and it could not read that those processes began to play a decisive role in politics 3-4 years later.

The AKP and the MHP failed to expand public support for the alliance they had formed, just as the ruling party failed to create any dynamics in the political arena in accordance with the requirements of the new era, except for the implementation of the proposal of the smallest party of the Assembly in October 2016 to change the political system of the country.

But the opposition was able to read the "revolutionary dynamics" from the depths of society and transform them into the daily activities of its policy.

The most severe punishment given to the government, which did not accept the opposition’s victory in the municipal elections on March 31, 2019, and forcibly had the elections repeated in Istanbul on June 23, was the scene of a second wave coming from the depths.

As this situation led to a split in the ruling party, it further strengthened the consolidation of the main opposition. Therefore, it is already possible to say that the opposition bloc's announcement in the June 2018 elections that presidential candidate Muharrem İnce will leave the Republican People's Party and create a new party has no response in society.

In the municipal elections 1.5 years ago, the opposition union successfully directed the process and achieved a positive result after a long time. Leaving a 97-year-old political party at this time of year, not only to create a new party but also to leave it, has been doomed to failure from the very beginning.

It is not possible for Muharrem İnce to enter the Turkish political scene at the moment, and it will not be possible in the future too. Although Muharrem İnce's attempt to break away from the CHP and form a new party in such an environment is nothing but being Don Quixote because the government, relying on the status quo, cannot react positively to social dynamics, despite the fact that everyone sees that Turkish politics is guided by oppositional philosophies and dynamics.

In the same vein - but on the opposite wing of the political front - it seems ridiculous and ironic that Devlet Bahçeli, a minor ally of the government, invited the leader of the Good (İYİ) Party, Meral Akşener, to return to her "home" - the MHP, whose congressional demand was blocked by a court decision four years ago, which led to the creation of a new party.

At the time when the party, which was separated  4 years ago directly due to him and was created, is gaining a lot of respect in the society and moving forward confidently on the "Union of Nations" train, offering Akşener to get off the train's front locomotive and get on the backmost carriage is also an expression of lagging behind the "political time", like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who cannot catch the frequency of waves coming from the depths. Although it was clear that Meral Akşener would not respond positively to this appeal, her response was concise in terms of the address she was pointing to: "Tell your partner to stop sending his men upon us."

In other words, see the reaction of trying to silence the opposition by using the opportunities provided by the government to the end. That is to say, if the ruling party of any country uses its power to silence the opposition, believe me, the consequences are already known. That is, politics is made not by design from above but by demands from the deeper layers of society. If you are motivated to design policy without reacting to those demands, your hope will be in Mustafa Destici in Turkey and in one-man board parties in Azerbaijan (since the list is long, I spare to trespass on your time by writing these names).

I have no choice but to say to Muharrem İnce and Devlet Bahçeli, "May your veterans be blessed"…