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Article – A vital question in Turkish politics today: Is ruling AK Party losing power?

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Is Ak Party losing power today?

AK PARTY which has been in power for 15 years now (since 2002) has no doubt contributed to Turkey in multiple areas such as increase of national income to USD 10,000 in a short period of time, modernization of infrastructure including new roads and improvement in health system and hospitals as well as some delicate issues such as removal of headscarf ban etc.

On the other hand however, there are millions who believe it has also done the country considerable harm and forward related criticism regarding some issues such as instability in education systems practiced, bad management of economy (sky-rocketing debts and ignored industrial production) and polarization of citizens (a major issue) – not to forget questions raised about the existence of a healthy judicial system.

At this point, we need to share one thing before we go further, although this may not be favored by many Ak Party supporters. Some believe it would not be very unfair to say Ak Party equals President ERDOGAN. Yes, unfortunately this seems to have been the case for a long time, as it is even more so today after the referendum held a short while ago, granting super powers to the president to be elected in 2019. The thing is, the current president is already running the country today with the authority that the president to be elected in 2019 is destined to be in possession of.

Despite the “implausible” support (propaganda rather) of the media (partisan, as some name it) for the ruling party in power, things may not have gone very pleasant for Ak Party following major corruption allegations, excessive usage of official authority (as considered by millions at least), and major blunders in foreign politics and severely deteriorating relations with other countries, the Middle East conflict situation to be in the first place.

The failed coup attempt (which could have been a major nightmare for the country otherwise) however seems to have brought along an opportunity to enhance the authority held and used by the government thanks to the state of emergency practiced in the country for several renewed periods. This situation has been a major issue of debate as to the authority has been exploiting this method of administration according to some people and the whole power is between 2 lips of a single person. Obviously this picture has received a lot of criticism to include those from international arena and mainly covering ones forwarded toward deterioration of the democratic system supposed to be prevailing in the country. To provide an example, the detainment of many journalists (including non-Turkish citizens) has certainly been the main ground for this evaluation.

On the other hand as mentioned above the relations in the Middle East are more than delicate and all countries in the region have been exposed to a threat of even a bigger war and Turkey has to handle this critical situation very carefully and wisely to make up for some major wrong preferences it has made in the past.

Under the light of above explanation and based on the results of the last municipality elections in major cities not considered to have been very successful for AK Party, the leader has repeatedly commented that his party is suffering from a “METAL FATIGUE” and hence decided to amend the party organization by asking (some say oblige) top officials in charge at municipalities (in specific) to resign, aiming to give the party a brand new refreshed/energetic look again before the elections in 2018. However, there is a possibility this strategy may backfire due to problems incurred trying to convince people to leave their posts and obviously it would not be a plus for the party as far as public opinion would be concerned.

With this picture in mind, we might as well share at this point some results based on some surveys conducted regarding the vote potential as of today. According to referred study shared by a politics writer (very close to the former president) the AK Party’s votes are between 38-41 percent at the moment. The writer also says as the results show that resignations by mayors (as required by the authority) have not had the desired affect by raising vote rates, the leader of the party could indeed consider an early election, in the shortest time possible (such as 45-60 days) meaning it should not be a “BIG” surprise for anybody, if AK Party announced one of these days  that an early election decision was taken by the administration.

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