A review of politics in Turkey under the light of latest developments in the country

Turkish politics seems to be conceiving interesting developments in the coming days or more precisely in the months ahead. The AK Party which has dominated Turkish politics for almost 18 years and its leader President Erdogan are said to be losing altitude. This statement is  only shared based on survey work conducted by some reputable companies and trusted opinion leaders.

So the question is “why is this happening”. What causes the leader of the AK Party, who is virtually unbeatable, and his party to lose power? The answer to this question is voiced as management issues and the problems that consequently follow, with more people eventually being aware of said problems. More importantly, the usual propaganda practices of the ruling party do not seem to be sufficient enough to cover said problems. On the other hand it is observed that the opposition is more rational and efficient than before in terms of strategy and services.

What do we mean by problems?

– It seems that the economic management practiced and the rising cost of living that results from it have had quite an impact on top of the unemployment problem as a result of insufficient economic performance. So much so that people are no longer looking directly at the data provided by the official statistics agency, but they are looking at the money in their pockets and the food etc in their kitchens. They see that there is a big difference between what the government announces and what they experience and that the gap is widening. People have had difficulty paying their bills for quite a while. Not to mention those who can’t get a job or have to leave a job because of the bad economy. Certainly this applies to not only those who support the opposition, but also many who voted for the ruling party in the past. In other words, economy in the kitchen and unpaid bills are getting in the way of everything.

– Another important issue is that a significant part of the public now appears to be tired and fed up with the confrontation in politics and dividing citizens into hostile groups to solidate votes. Majority of citizens do not want politicians to use insulting language and slanderous elements to hurt each other.

– On the other hand, the slogan of the government for years, “without us, this opposition cannot do anything” has been proved not to be true. Because, especially in big cities such as Istanbul Ankara Izmir Antalya etc., the teams of the opposition parties that won the municipal elections provide very successful services and the public sees this clearly.

– Moreover, the military operations carried out abroad for quite some time do not seem to be as effective as they used to be at the begining to be written as credit in the government’s favor. The lives lost and the money spent seem to have tired the public.

– In addition to all these, it is now seen that some important politicians who broke away from the AK Party and recently formed new parties will cause this party to lose votes.

“How effective these issues mentioned above are”, can be seen in some public opinion surveys conducted by some reliable companies. These results say “If elections were held today, it would be very difficult for the Republican Alliance to pass 45 percent. On the other hand, the opposition (National Alliance and the “front for democracy”) could win around 55 per cent of the vote”. In addition, based on some survey results again it appears that the current president will have to perform extraordinarily well to get “fifty percent plus 1” vote against the candidates of the opposition in the election for the presidency.

Therefore, it seems likely that politics in Turkey may paint quite a different picture in the upcoming elections, unless we experience some unexpected and surprising events in favor of the party in power currently.