Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the lawmakers of his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party during the new year’s first meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 201.? Read more » (AP Photo)
Mavi Boncuk | Following the Turkish constitutional referendum, 2010, which the ruling party won, to create reforms as necessitated for Turkey’s accession to the EU, AK Party party leaders said they would create a new constitution after the 2011 elections, which were seen as having emboldened the AK Party. The election is likely to be held in June 2011, possibly on 12 June 2011.
2011 is a year that Turkey, Islam and the General Elections will keep us busy. Bassam Tibi is on the one end of the discussion. If he can be proven wrong will it be good for the future of Turkey? He argues about the concepts introduced by Jurgen Habermas post 9/11. With Democratic requests fron Kurdish minority in Turkey ‘Leitkultur’ will be discussed again and again in Mavi Boncuk. Hopefully it will ward the evil eye as it should.
?The most important thing is to preserve the sphere of free debate,? said Abdullah Gül after his visit to Diyarbakır. He was content with the event, but some Kurds expressed disappointment. They were expecting more precise language and stronger hints about the roadmap, or whatever it may be called.
There is agreement that 2011 will be a turning point in Turkey due to the importance of the general elections scheduled for the middle of the year. There is no doubt that the elections and their result will leave a mark on the entire year.
In the past decade, developments in Turkish politics that correspond to the three laws of physics have altered the structure of the country?s political system greatly.
It seems strange to see some observers of Turkish politics treat the main opposition Republican People?s Party (CHP) as the sole contender on the center-left of the Turkish political spectrum, while the CHP?s credentials for leftist and social democratic values are very much being challenged and disputed because of hard-line nationalistic, pro-military, anti-reform and elitist policies adopted by the CHP in recent years to fervently defend the status quo.
Once again we are in an election year. Political competition will peak in the period before us. Despite having been in power for the last eight years, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is not acting as though it has lost energy. Those who want to overthrow the AK Party government through ?democratic methods? will obviously focus on the elections to be held in June. They have their hopes vested in Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu?s ?new Republican People?s Party? (CHP). But is the CHP ready to take on this mission?
In my previous column, I conveyed some analysis of the most defining event in 2011: the general elections. Let me continue this with references to an esteemed pollster.
If the CHP uses the Alevi-Kurdish questions to shape its pre-election period, this may blow wind into the sails of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in the Black Sea, Mediterranean and Aegean regions.
What Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli said on Tuesday at the meeting of his party?s parliamentary group implies that his party?s opposition to the government vis-à-vis the Kurdish issue will grow harsher.
CHP officials are preoccupied by questions such as how they are going to get close to forming the government without significantly increasing their vote share in the Southeast.
