TURQUÌA:TURKISH PEOPLE HAVE DEMOLISHED THE THRESHOLD AND ERDOGAN HAS LOST

An important election with potentially important political consequences has been concluded in Turkey. The incumbent AKP remained the first party with 40.7% of the vote and 258 seats but failed to achieve a majority. The Social Democrat CHP held on to their 25% and got 132 seats. The fascist MHP got 16.5% of the vote and 80 seats while the HDP, the election alliance that our party is also a member, got 13.1% of the vote and also 80 seats.

The 10% threshold, introduced after the fascist coup of 12 September 1980, initially targeted to prevent the representatives of Kurdish people and the workers from entering the parliament.

In the previous elections in 2011, candidates of the alliance that our party is also a member had to enter the elections as independents to beat the 10% threshold and got 6.5% of the votes and 35 seats in the parliament. Four years later, in this election the threshold that the bourgeois parties have been hiding behind have been demolished!

As well as the threshold being demolished, the AKP leader  and President Tayyip Erdoğan’s dream to set up a Middle Eastern dictatorship through changes in the Constitution and the introduction of an Executive Presidential system have also been destroyed.

We will discuss the results of this “demolishing of the threshold”, the affects of these results on political discourse in the country and what kind of government will emerge or not from the parliament in the coming days.

We could however make the following observations:

1) It is clear that a considerable number of people have for the first time voted for HDP. A big section of society recognised voting for HDP as the only way to stop AKP and voted accordingly. This demonstrates that peoples’ knowledge of politics surpass those of parties and circles outside of the class. This is important as it indicates the possibility of a political restructuring in the country.

2) The country said “no” to Executive Presidency, AKP being dragged around by Erdoğan as if it’s his personal party, the grandeur of the Palace, bribery and corruption, hubris, arbitrary governance, Religious-Sectarian exploitation and exploitation of the Kur’an, personal longings for dictatorship, attempts to silence the media…and the dictatorial behaviour shown by Erdoğan.

3) This result indicates to the possibilities of a secular and democratic Turkey, resolutions in the Kurdish and Alevite issues and widening the reach of freedoms; as well as demonstrating the peoples’ determination to fight dreams of “realigning education along religious lines”, “religious youth”, “conservative rebuilding of society” and the line close to that of “Muslim Brotherhood”.

4) This result, as well as being a resounding “no” to the AKP policies in the Middle East, is also a defeat for those Islamist organisations and circles that receive ideological, diplomatic (and financial) support of the AKP government. On the contrary, the result is a source of morale and motivation among all those fighting for a secular and democratic Middle East against the forces of Sharia and religious terrorism.

5) Considering that the emergence of a government from within this parliament is unlikely, the discussions on “early elections” within a short space of time seem inevitable. The 7 June Elections have brought the end of the era of AKP.  Regardless of probable coalitions with other parties or attempts at a minority government the ‘period of power’ that could be named the ‘Erdoğan era’ or ‘AKP Turkey is not a rosy country for those that had a “successful election”. Because AKP and Erdoğan - even if they are not in government - will attempt with all their power to continue their rule through the Presidency and their cadres in the state. The decline of the AKP government does not mean that the hard part has been overcome.

The summary of the 7 June elections is that it has been an election where Erdoğan and AKP have lost and the peoples have won.

Fuente:Solidnet/PrensaPopularSolidaria