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Global Research Fundraising: Stop the Pentagon’s Ides of March

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The results of Türkiye’s 2024 local elections and its influences on Turkish politics will undoubtedly be seen more clearly in the medium term.

However, there are some significant points that the results indicate, and even if they are still in the heat of the moment, these points clearly show to the actors in the Turkish political scene that no election can be won in Türkiye if the economic and political realities are not taken into consideration. 

There is no doubt that the undisputed winner of this election is Republican People’s Party (CHP), which won the majority of the metropolitan and provincial municipalities and became the first party in the provincial assembly vote rate with 34.44%.

The loser of the election is the ruling party AKP, which fell below its vote share in 2002 for the first time in 22 years. If an evaluation is made as to why the ruling party experienced such a large loss of votes even though only 10 months have passed since the general elections, the key to winning elections and reaching to power in Türkiye can be understood:

First of all, during this 10-month period, the ruling party, with its new economy team in the government, followed an economic policy in line with the expectations of global capital, could not reduce inflation in the country, and prioritized the financial interests of global capital, not the people, and forgot about the retired and low-income segments of Turkish society.

This explains the approximately eight million votes lost from the ruling party compared to the previous election results.

As a matter of fact, we understand from the messages they give through their representatives that the global capital is the most disturbed one by the Turkish election results. The first messages coming from the pens of Western capital point out that the markets do not like the election result in Türkiye, they expect the return to orthodox economic policies to continue, foreign capital will be disturbed by these results and will expect extra guarantees for the continuation of the current economic policy.

However, the political practice and economic reality confirmed by the election results signalize the exact opposite: the election in Türkiye cannot be won with such economy team and economic policies that increasingly impoverish the Turkish people and serve the interests of global capital!

Secondly, the economic priorities and security sensitivities of the people in Türkiye are parallel to each other, and failure to conceive this will definitely have a negative impact on the election results. Again, during this 10-month period, the government’s shift to the West, which poses the biggest security threat to Türkiye in the last decades, has created serious question marks in the minds of larger parts of Turkish public. While on the one hand, they felt sorry for Gaza, on the other hand, the silent reaction they have shown in the meeting squares to Türkiye’s increasing trade with Israel was reflected in the ballots.

Thirdly, the refugee issue, which the public pays attention to in the economy-security balance of interests but is ignored by the ruling party, was a factor that affected the election results. The results in Kilis province, a province bordered to Syria, shows that the public does not accept the government’s refugee policies, its efforts to remove the refugee issue from Türkiye’s agenda, and, more importantly, its efforts to impose refugees on Turkish society as the new reality of Türkiye’s demography.

Fourthly, it has been seen that embracing outdated Western-origin liberal policies in a world that has become multipolar by following micro-nationalist and separatist political figures along with economic policies that prioritize the interests of global capital will not provide positive outcomes in the elections in Türkiye.

In addition, it seems that the era of political Islamism in politics, where political Islamism could gain support by showcasing the people’s so-called ‘conservative values’, is now coming to an end.

The conservatism of the people is something private and personal, and this requires an unquestionable respect.

But, the pure reality in the daily life of the Turkish people is wealth and security, which can only be provided equally to all citizens if the secular, modern Turkish nation state is strong. The election results are a sign that the secular Republic of Türkiye has never become obsolete, on the contrary, it is becoming more stronger in the 21st century; it has also been an indication that Atatürk’s legacy cannot be erased neither in Türkiye nor in the world with his strong nation-state and mixed economy models that give priority to the interests of people.

As the result of the election, those who are rising as new stars in Turkish politics are the CHP candidates, especially Mansur Yavaş, who won with a record vote in Ankara.

The fact that such large differences have emerged in favor of the opposition party for the first time in metropolitan cities is an indication that the Turkish people wishes a radical transformation in Turkish politics. The fact that Mansur Yavaş, Mayor of Ankara, won the election with a margin of 30%, doubling his closest rival, makes factitious inferences that the winner of İstanbul will be the natural presidential candidate meaningless.

Especially, when looking at the provincial assembly votes; and also, when the voting potential of the parties representing nationalist voters, which are currently components of the ruling alliance, and the approximately 8 million voters with high national sensitivity who have broken away from the ruling party, are taken into account, this wish for transformation is more apparently understood. More interestingly, it has become clear that the people demand the establishment of a new national central politics under the leadership of winner of this election, CHP, the founding party of the modern Republic of Türkiye.

The national center in the new political era, which has already started as of April 1, 2024, can only be possible with a new political perspective that can build economic policies that prioritize the people’s interests without giving credit to separatist politics and promise Türkiye’s independent stance in the world politics.

The results of this election are a signal that any political organization that can realize the need for this new perspective will sooner or later come to power in Türkiye.

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Featured image is from ATASAM