Turkey: one parliament for four parties

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Turkey had a really interesting general election which ended 13 year Ak Party majority government. After this election there will be 4 party represented in the parliament.

AKP (Justice and Development Party) was founded 13 years ago by giving hope to the oppressed people and promising advance democracy, political stability and fair economy, they promised to fight against corruption, poverty and prohibitions. They have delivered some of their promises and won 3 consecutive elections and increased their vote every time. However, as they increased their power in politics, they have become less tolerant to people who do not agree with their policies. As a result, 2 years ago many street protests erupted in the streets of Istanbul and the country. The police state they have created pressured secular people of Turkey. During their rule many journalists were jailed too. In December 2013, a corruption operation carried out by the police uncovered a lot of wrongdoings by 4 ministers as well as the prime minister of the time, Mr Erdogan. $ Ministers had to resign but AKP blocked any trial on the Constitutional Court. AKP accused a Muslim cleric for creating "parallel state" in the police force and justice departments and carrying out this false accusations. After short time, all arrested in the operations (including cabinet ministers' sons) were released and the policemen and public prosecutors who uncovered the corruption were put in jail instead. In August 2014, AKP leader Mr Erdogan was elected as the president by securing 52% of the votes, and former foreign minister replaced him as the new leader.

However, even though according to the Constitution president should be impartial, Mr Erdogan has constantly interfered with the party politics and acted as president, prime minister and the AKP leader. In the last election campaign he organised election rallies on the state budget and actively asked people to vote for AKP. During his campaign he targeted HDP (People's Democratic Party) in particular and he wanted that party to fail getting enough votes to pass election threshold (10%). (This threshold was put in place by the military rule in 1980s and it is the highest threshold in the world.) Mr Erdogan thinks that president does not have enough powers and the parliamentary system should be changed to presidential system and most decisions should be made by the president. On a separate note, president Erdogan had himself a 1150 room very luxury presidential palace built and many people thought it was a big waste of public money while many people suffer with their low incomes. As a result of corruption cover up, luxury life style, unlawful arrests and the discriminatory language used by AKP and the president, people of Turkey withdrew their support to AKP but they remain as the largest political.

The big winner of this election was HDP! (People's Democratic Party) They had a huge hurdle (the threshold) to come over. They have run very active, positive and peaceful campaign. Their manifesto was one of the most democratic manifestos I have ever seen. They tried to reach out to non-Kurdish people and show them their party is not a Kurdish party but Turkey's party. They selected half of their candidates from women. Their party structure is also different from the rest as they have 2 equal leaders a woman and a man. They also had many candidates from different ethnic groups. They claim that they would like to remain part of the country as equal citizens. They say peace is possible within the politics. They kicked off their campaign by addressing Mr Erdogan and telling him "We will not make you the president!", and this statement got them a lot of "lent" votes from CHP (Republican People's Party). Even though many people in Turkey were (and still are) sceptical about HDP because of their ties with Kurdish terrorist organisation PKK, they managed to increase their vote from 6.5% to 13%. They will have 80 MPs in the parliament, including 31 women. I believe they now have a great task of delivering their promises of being everyone's party, helping establish peace and stopping Erdogan becoming president, of course!

Here are some interesting and good facts about this election result and campaign:

1- Opinion Representation in the parliament: 95%

2- Women representation in the parliament: 96 MPs (18%) highest ever!

3- Participation in Election: 85%

4- Collapsed anti democratic threshold.

5- HDP as the party of Turkey's nations and Kurdish representation the parliament.

6- HDP's peaceful messages to everyone.

And the worst thing to see during this campaign was that the division and hatred between different groups of people. I believe this is the result of 13 yearlong AKP ruling and the
irresponsible language they have been using.

Finally here are some information links for the 4 main political parties in Turkey:

1- AKP (Justice and Development Party) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_and_Development_Party_%28Turkey%29 2- CHP (Republican People's Party) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_People%27s_Party_%28Turkey%29 3- MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalist_Movement_Party 4- HDP (Peoples' Democratic Party) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples%27_Democratic_Party_%28Turkey%29

Yurdakul Celebi is Turkish. He has been living in the UK for 14 years and currently living and working in London as a Software Test Analyst.

Turchia, mi si è bloccata la democrazia

Che la comunicazione - soprattutto se virale, velocissima come quella dei social media - faccia paura ai governi che hanno qualcosa da nascondere, non è una novità. Sempre nuova però è la rabbia, anche a chilometri di distanza e conto terzi, per questa grave violazione di libertà. È avvenuto ieri notte, in Turchia. Poco dopo la mezzanotte il governo ha bloccato Twitter, proibendone l'accesso. La mossa era stata minacciata poche ore prima (leggi l'articolo Reuters). 
Sale la tensione, in vista delle elezioni amministrative del 30 marzo, appuntamento rischioso per il partito di Erdogan, dopo il pesante scandalo sulla corruzione e la tensione accumulata a partire dai fatti di Gezi Park. I rumors - ancora da confermare - parlano anche di un ulteriore scandalo che coinvolgerebbe personalmente Erdogan, che pare avrebbe usufruito del Nikāḥ al-Mutʿah, una sorta di matrimonio breve, a termine, per una relazione sessuale. 
Ecco che scatta, allora, la stretta sui media. La ragione? Duplice. Da una parte si tratta di un tentativo (destinato al fallimento) di depotenziare la circolazione massiccia delle notizie - in arrivo in queste ore - su alcuni sviluppi sull'inchiesta per corruzione che ha coinvolto esponenti governativi. Dall'altra, l'obiettivo è quello di alzare la tensione, scatenando nuove proteste e nuovi scontri. Già, perché così Erdogan può, come è avvenuto in passato, presentarsi come tutore dell'ordine contro i cosiddetti "terroristi", in realtà manifestanti ordinari. Guadagnando, ebbene sì, in consensi. Questo il gioco pericoloso del primo ministro turco. E per questo molti, anche dall'opposizione, invitano i cittadini a non scendere in piazza. A non cadere nella trappola.

(Grazie a Yurda, che mi fornisce sempre tante informazioni

- Thanks to Yurda, my turkish friend always providing me with a lot of informations).

Intanto la rete si scatena in una ironia iconografica molto amara: 

Leggi anche:

Berkin

Goodbye, internet freedom
Democratic Emergency in Turkey
Update from Turkey
Gezipark Philarmonic

Berkin

Dopo nove mesi di coma, è morto oggi - martedì 12 marzo - Berkin Elvan. 
Giovanissimo, 15 anni, era stato colpito alla testa da una granata durante gli scontri a Gezi Park, nel giugno 2013. Da allora era diventato il simbolo della lotta contro la spietata repressione del governo Erdogan. 


Read also:
Goodbye, internet freedom
Democratic Emergency in Turkey
Update from Turkey
Gezipark Philarmonic

Goodbye, internet freedom

Turkish police use tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters demonstrating against Internet censorship.

The draft bill, which would enable mass surveillance of internet users, is due to be debated in Turkey's parliament in the coming days.

___

Lacrimogeni e cannoni d'acqua: la polizia turca disperde i manifestanti, in piazza contro la censura della rete.

Il provvedimento - che prevede una sorveglianza sull'utilizzo del web - sarà all'esame del parlamento turco nei prossimi giorni.





Read also:

Democratic Emergency in Turkey
Update from Turkey
Gezipark Philarmonic

Gezipark Philharmonic

Member of many Turkish Orchestras and freelance musicians giving a concert in Gezi Park. 

I publish once again some notes from a Turkish friend of mine, Yurdakul Celebi.

There are many politicians in Turkey who have common sense including President Gul. They have been trying to calm things down. However, they cannot do much because, Mr Erdogan is the absolute leader of his party and the country.

The issue is Mr Erdogan's attitude. He acts like he does not want to calm things down. He has been avoiding to give a simple apology to those who have suffered from the police's treatment. He still insists on demolishing the park. He still accuses protesters as marginals and terrorists. So, nothing changes on his side. It looks like he did not get the message from people at all.

Since the police has withdrawn, Taksim square has become a festival place. A lot of people gather there, they sing together, act together, read together, pray together, share their food with each other.


I must say, I have never seen Taksim this peaceful.

We will see what happens next...

Regards,

Yurdakul 

Turchia: domanda e risposta

In data 2 giugno 2013, Libertà e Giustizia Roma invia una lettera aperta all’Ambasciatore turco in Italia, pochi giorni dopo la risposta. Eccole entrambe:

Ambasciatore Hakkı Akil,

come cittadini Italiani  amici della Turchia siamo rimasti profondamente colpiti dalla brutale repressione che il suo Governo ha posto in essere contro i dimostranti di Piazza Taksim.

La difesa del Gezi Parki è diventata il simbolo dei cittadini che vedono erodere ogni giorno il valore fondativo della laicità dello Stato Turco, a causa di una legislazione sempre più soggetta a restrizioni religiose.

L'interferenza della religione - di alcuni - sulle leggi - per tutti - ha sempre provocato ingiustizie e regresso sociale ed infatti è stata da tempo superata negli stati con democrazie più avanzate

Anche in Italia la laicità dello Stato  è molto incerta e tanti cittadini - credenti e non credenti - si battono insieme perché questo tema si affermi pienamente, come principio di rispetto ed eguaglianza verso i credenti di tutte le religioni, in regime di assoluta parità con chi si dichiara ateo.

Ambasciatore Hakkı Akil,

nell'esprimere pena solidarietà ai dimostranti così duramente e ingiustamente perseguitati e feriti, le chiediamo di riferire al suo Governo la profonda preoccupazione di molte cittadine e cittadini Italiani per l'indebolimento  nella Turchia del valore della laicità, che è stato uno degli elementi più importanti per creare un clima di progressiva fiducia tra Turchia ed Europa, e che oggi rischia di subire una brusca battuta d'arresto.

Con amicizia e impegno democratico

Massimo Marnetto

Libertà e Giustizia di Roma – Italia

***

La ringrazio per l’interesse dimostrato per gli avvenimenti che succedono nel nostro Paese.

Il diritto alla libertà di espressione, di riunione e di manifestazione, sono diritti garantiti dalla Costituzione nel nostro Paese.

In realtà, questo tipo di manifestazioni fanno parte della cultura politica della Turchia. Esse non sono casi nuovi o straordinari.

Durante le manifestazioni iniziate a Taksim che avevano finalità di protezione ambientale e in seguito dilagate ulteriormente, le forze di sicurezza hanno dovuto intervenire contro alcuni gruppi che avevano fuorviato lo scopo della manifestazione, ricorrendo alla violenza.

Il Primo Ministro Erdogan e il Ministro dell’Interno Güler hanno personalmente condiviso con l’opinione pubblica l’idea che la polizia in alcune momenti della manifestazione abbia usato la forza in maniera sproporzionata e hanno prontamente annunciato l’apertura di un'inchiesta.

Infatti, oggi, il Ministero dell'Interno ha avviato questo processo.

Allo stato attuale, i rappresentanti della politica e della società civile fanno appelli al buon senso.

La democrazia radicata della Turchia e la cultura di pace della nostra comunità hanno la maturità e gli strumenti sufficienti in grado di porre fine a questo processo in modo pacifico.

In questo senso, il Presidente della Repubblica oggi ha lanciato un messaggio nel quale ha espresso che i messaggi di buon senso sono ricevuti e verranno considerati.

La ringrazio ancora per la sua cortese attenzione e sensibilità ed invio cordiali saluti.

Hakkı AKİ

L' Ambasciatore

Democratic Emergency in Turkey

Riots in Istanbul 

«My dear friends all over the world, We need you. I wouldn't ask anyone to share anything if it wasn't this urgent. 
Turkish Democracy and Freedom needs you RIGHT NOW!
 If you believe in Democracy, Peace, Freedom of Speech, we need your awareness of the situation in Turkey right now. Please share this». 

This way starts a message that is actually circulating on the web, after police started a brutal repression in center Istanbul against an Occupy-style movement has taken off in turkish city. The protesters were acting against the demolition of a park provided in the redevelopment plan. But, obviusly, this is only the last straw. The issue is political and concerns the authoritative attitude of Erdogan government. «This is more than an environmental protest – explains Richard Seymour on the Guardian – It has become a lightning conductor for all the grievances accumulated against the government»

«Erdogan has been planting hatred seeds into the hearts of the Turks – says a Turkish young man, a friend of mine who now lives in London but has a lot of connection with his country – now our country is harvesting. Because his increasing success at the polls, he has started to think the is the new Sultan. He has been pressuring people who do not think like him, especially secular Turks (for example by introducing alcohol bans, and so on). It is also very interesting that he has complete control over the Turkish justice system».

The AKP – Erdognan political party - represents a peculiar type of conservative populism. It has never needed the left or the labour movement, which it has repressed. It no longer needs the liberals, as its attacks on women's reproductive rights, and its imposition of alcohol-free zones, show. While denying it is a religious party, it has used the politics of piety to gain a popular base and to strengthen the urban rightwing.

«Turkish police is attacking peaceful protesters violently with tear gas, water cannon and plastic bullets directly targeting their faces and bodies. Dozens of protesters are hospitalized – says the letter – Turkish media, directly controlled by the government, refuse to cover the incidents. Press agencies also blocked the information flow. What started as a peaceful demonstrations for preserving a recreational area in Istanbul city center Taksim square, (which is planned to be demolished for the construction of a shopping mall) become a violent terrorism act of the Turkish Police, to its own people.

«The the government have declared war on secularism, freedom and anyone who doesn't agree with them, from atheists to homosexuals, from socialists to environmentalists can be violently repressed.

WE ARE LOSING OUR FREEDOM!

Our country was no different than your's. We had the same rights. Now they are trying to take our rights away and we are trying to keep them.

PLEASE SHARE THIS and help me create awareness so we can give the power back to the people! »

I’m going to follow the situation. Stay tuned.