The ruling party’s precariousness, and the far from stable position of the opposition, which has never fielded a union candidate, make the issue of holding elections the same as the well-known rhetorical question of “to be or not to be”.
Source: nowturkey.ru
The fact is that, even before the humanitarian disaster, the Turkish leader decided to hold early elections on May 14. The earthquakes later caused a stir and spoiled the map, as they say, with a mix of ours and yours.
There is no unanimity in the ruling Justice and Development Party over the advisability of holding elections on May 14. One of the founders of Erdoğan’s party, Bulent Arınc, a former speaker of the Turkish parliament, believes the elections should be postponed. He says the elections must be postponed immediately. He explains this by saying that Turkey needs to rebuild civil infrastructure en masse, and entire cities in some places must be demolished and rebuilt. The Turkish president’s position is now completely stalemated: any action, whether he visits the victims or gives them a year’s rent allowance, is perceived, not without the opposition’s help, as scoring points before the upcoming elections. And any inaction would make it appear that Erdogan does not care at all about the people, after all, he is preparing for the election.
Meanwhile, the opposition says that the elections, according to the law, cannot be postponed. Recep Erdogan does not have the power to postpone the elections without changing the Constitution. And to make changes, the president needs 2/3 of the votes in parliament, which can only be obtained with the support of the opposition. Checkmate?
For now, checkmate has been put on the serene life of the Republic of Turkey. The country is completely absorbed with domestic problems: the WHO estimates that earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have cumulatively affected 23 million people and the country’s recovery may take many years. Although the president’s plans are ambitious – to implement the five-year plan in four years.
Otherwise, the situation is indeed stalemate, as any move regarding elections could change things for both the ruling party and the opposition. Any delay, any decision or challenge carries with it both opportunities and risks. The opposition, for example, is actively exploiting public anger at the pace of the search and rescue teams, not forgetting to blame Erdoğan for the collapse of tens of thousands of buildings and the consequent enormous damage to the country. However, there is a fine line between objective criticism and using the disaster for political gain.
Two opposing forces in the Republic of Turkey are now trying to paint the world black and white, hanging only two labels – “good” and “bad” – in an attempt to win the election race. Yet Turkey and its citizens in general are far from being categorised. Today in Turkey there is room for life and death, for grief over loss, for gratitude for salvation, for dissociation amid humanitarian disaster and for unity in the name of national reconstruction – today’s Turkey is a vast palette of colours.
Vladimir Avatkov, RT
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