On the Brink of Election

Dear friends, the election process has come to an end with intense debates and accusations that are incompatible with democratic maturity. In this process, we have seen the unifying, non-polemic and fact-based discourses of the People's Alliance against the accusatory, divisive and perception-based discourses of the People's Alliance. After a long period in power, the AKP's post-election promises were more concerned about not falling behind the promises of the National Alliance than being credible. Experts' assessments pointed to the apparent fatigue of the government. At the same time, the preservation of power has become a necessity for a mass of people beyond the AKP. For this group, which had somehow benefited from the blessings of power, the AKP's loss of power meant not only the loss of many privileges, but also the possibility of being prosecuted for unlawful acts. To this end, the bombardment of untrue accusations on social media channels gave an idea of the magnitude of the possible losses. 

The Millet Alliance preferred to conduct its election propaganda process within the framework of a more concrete, fact-based strategy. In this process, it preferred to explain its own plans and programs to the public instead of fighting black propaganda in high tones. This seemed to be the right choice in many respects. Because no matter what, if it engaged in polemics, it was seen that its chances of success against a government that had all the means of the state and did not hesitate to use them for elections were quite low. The Millet Alliance's efforts to come up with special solutions, especially for those who were disadvantaged due to lack of merit and favoritism, and its efforts to explain this to the public were announcing an alternative to the government that was on the ground to a degree unprecedented in elections so far. 

While all this was going on, it became apparent that the internal fractures within the government were increasing due to its corruption. For some time now, the facts about the corruption of the government, exposed by the "leader of a criminal organization" Sedat Peker, have been on the table. The government did not provide any information or take any action to eliminate the discussions based on these facts, and used publication bans, self-censorship and agenda-changing moves to keep the allegations from the public's attention. With the elections just around the corner, new revelations began to emerge, this time from people close to the government, presumably due to disagreements over the division of interests. The most important of these was that of Ali Yeşildağ, who is known to be close to the President. As important as the gravity of the stories was the fact that no prosecutor took action against these allegations and it was as if these allegations had never come to light.

Although the revelations about the corruption in power are ignored by the current government, it seems highly likely that in the event of a possible change of power, all these allegations will be investigated and the biggest corruption trials in the country's history will be opened. This possibility, in turn, has led to a hardening of the government's language in order to preserve its position, and often to discourse that does not conform to political decency and the law. In particular, the Interior Minister's open threats, which in a normal state of law would immediately be subject to prosecution, are awaiting developments after the elections in Turkey. The allegations against members of the government and their supporters are not the subject of this article. However, at this stage, it seems unlikely that a peaceful environment will emerge in a short time after the elections, regardless of the outcome. 

In addition to the economic problems in the country, the erosion of civil servants' wages creates an environment that disrupts labor peace. According to many indices, the decline in wages in 21 years raises the following question. Why is there a decline in wages while the country's GDP (Domestic Gross National Product) is increasing? There are several answers to this question. First, the government's policy preferences seem to be aimed at turning the country into a cheap labor base by lowering average wages. Second, the government's negative attitude towards white-collar workers manifests itself at every opportunity. The fact that the government, which has an electorate consisting mostly of low-educated and unskilled labor, ignores the erosion in the wages of white-collar workers at the risk of disrupting labor peace also has the effect of increasing income inequality. Another reason for the erosion in wages is mismanagement practices consisting of faulty employment policies, waste in the public sector and an unfair tax policy. 

Although the government tries to pretend that the earthquake effect, which is added to all these negativities, does not exist, the increasing population density in big cities and the sudden shrinkage in the housing stock across the country seem to have made life more difficult for almost everyone living in cities. The increase in house prices and rents can be considered the most concrete indicator of this. Against this backdrop, the problem of asylum-seekers, whose number is said to exceed 10 million according to some estimates, points to a situation that the government is no longer able to solve with rational policies. For this reason, the government, which has entered into a political discourse that appeals to emotions, has two main veins to cling to. One of these is religion and the other is nationalism. How far these preferences, which are also reflected in the election propaganda process, can prevail over the public's perception of economic reality is a question we will soon find out. 

The discourse of the government, which has perhaps turned the entire election process into a horror movie, has several dimensions. First of all, everyone who loves their country and its people should be aware of the fact that after the elections, they will still live in the same country, struggling with common problems that negatively affect all of our lives. Calling the election a "coup" is, to put it mildly, doing a great disservice to this country. Of course, such a rhetoric, which could set the country on fire, brings to mind two possibilities. The first is to try to influence the outcome of the election by creating fear of unrest among opposition voters, which is the most innocent option, albeit a crime in itself. The second is the possibility that this dangerous rhetoric was used to mobilize a mass of people who are aware that it is not only the government they will lose if they lose power. This possibility is a much more serious offense than the first one and is defined in Article 309 of the Turkish Penal Code. Article 309 of the Turkish Penal Code states, "Those who, by force and violence, attempt to abolish the order stipulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, or to replace this order with another order, or to prevent the actual implementation of this order, shall be punished with aggravated life imprisonment". It is impossible for a person sitting in the office of the Minister of Interior not to know this. So what is the motivation that made him say this? This is one of the questions that we are likely to learn the answer to in the near future. 

Conclusion

Unfortunately, we are far away from a normal political choice. It is as if the country is divided into two hostile camps. It is necessary to question why we are so divided. However, there is a much more important issue here. The security bureaucracy should be aware of the "Unlawful Order" defined in Article 137 of the Constitution and should not forget that they have sworn loyalty to the Constitution. Otherwise, a picture may emerge in which the price to be paid may become much heavier. It is not possible to understand why, in the context of this historic warning, the names at the top of the security bureaucracy emphasizing their loyalty to the Constitution could have reduced all tensions, but this has not been done. There is nothing left to do except to wish for the realization of good things, not the negativity we can think of. With the hope of waking up on Monday to a country where all tensions have been reduced, normalized, where people greet each other with a smile regardless of their views, I wish that these elections will be a blessing for our country. With respect and love...