Rejected by parliament, Gul turns to direct elections to become head of state
Ankara (AsiaNews) – Beaten for the second time in a parliamentary ballot to elect the President of the Republic, Abdullah Gul, Foreign Affairs Minister, could not but give up on this type of vote. But if the constitutional reform plan that allows for direct election is pushed through, he will not need to give up hope of becoming head of State. “Another vote in Parliament would be useless, I withdraw my candidature,” Gul said in a press conference yesterday. “Now the decision is up to the people. The candidate will be me once again, but now I trust in the will of the people.” It is with this spirit of challenge and confidence in the strength of his party and person, despite the iron fist of his political adversaries, that Gul is presenting himself on 22 July if, as seems likely, general as well as presidential elections will take place.
Thus, the Turkish nation will be called to vote in early elections to soothe tensions and to find a way out of this impasse. But no other candidates have been fielded yet, who may be more impartial and acceptable to secular and military factions too.
Paradoxically, despite the recent political and social crisis, the AKP seems to be stronger and more self-confident than ever and thus it will try to field its only candidate once more.
For the general election too, Premier Erdogan knows he can count not only on the social classes of the big cities and suburbs of Anatolia but also on the new class of small enterprise owners and craftsmen, whose economy and interests were considerably boosted by this government right from the start of its tenure. In fact, there is no denying that the country’s economic development has grown remarkably under the government of the sharp prime minister of Muslim and pro-European sympathies.
What’s more, the premier knows perfectly well that if the 10% threshold remains, the electoral results will be similar to those of 2002, which means that little will change on Turkey’s political scene and that his party would emerge keeping its advantage.
This is precisely why political adversaries are moving to create new alliances and opposition.
The ANAP (Party of the Motherland) and the DYP (The Party of the True Path), two centre-right parties that currently can count only on 24 MPs, decided to join forces on Saturday 5 May to set up a new formation called the Democrat Party. The main opposition group, the Republican People's Party, was reportedly in talks with the Democratic Left. Polls give this party 12.5% and thus it could more easily overcome the minimum threshold barrier of the proportional electoral law. Right-wing factions are also seeking to create alliances. The CHP, the Social Democratic Party, which turned to the Constitutional Court to invalidate the presidential vote of Gul, has joined forces with the DSP, a secular party founded by the charismatic Bulent Ecevit, who died recently and was mourned by masses of people.
The hope is to manage to have at least four different parties in parliament against the two that won in November 2002, thanks to the landslide majority of the Islamic AKP party that got nearly 70% of the seats.
Yesterday too, the third large peaceful manifestation was organized by the Kemalists, in defence of national secularism against the pro-Islamic party of Erodgan. The march, supported by the Kemalist bourgeoisie of Istanbul and by the army that proclaims militarist nationalism, took place in Manisa – the city of origin of the current speaker of Parliament, Bulent Arince, the most radical exponent of the AKP Party – in a joyful atmosphere, without clashes, and under strict police surveillance. The most popular slogans were, once again: “Turkey is and will remain secular” and “No to Sharia at the presidential palace”.
It would be futile to deny that a president with a wife who wears a headscarf gives rise to fears among the military as well as the bulk of the leading Kemalist class. This is especially bearing in mind that the President of the Republic is also the head of the army.
So everyone is waiting with bated breath for a summer already projected to be a torrid affair.
.png)
