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Why is Anatolian People Defined as Conservative and Nationalist?

People living in Anatolia, especially in villages and towns, are really conservative. In fact, they are not only conservative, but also religious enough. Most of them are prayerful, go to their mosques, fast, pray and lead a religious life. In this sense, it can be said that they have a conservative and nationalist structure.

They say that Anatolian people have a conservative and nationalist structure.

Do you really think so?

I have nothing to say that he is conservative, but what I wonder is he really nationalist?

When I say nationalist, I don't mean that they love their homeland and their state, I think that all of us in our country love our homeland equally, I don't think it is possible to say that one of us loves our homeland more or less than the other.

After all, for all of us, when it comes to the homeland, the water stops flowing there, and if the subject is the homeland, the rest is a matter of detail for all of us.

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However, when it comes to ethnic nationalism, you will stop there.

At least I would not define Anatolian people as ethnic nationalists.

They may have a structure that loves their state and has national feelings. 

I don't know, they love Atatürk, they love national holidays, and they are prayerful.

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We say conservatism, yes, people living in Anatolia, especially in villages and towns, are really conservative. In fact, they are not only conservative, but also religious enough.

Most of them are prayerful, go to their mosques, fast, pray and lead a religious life.

In this sense, it can be said that they have a conservative and nationalist structure.

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I have been thinking for some time, where the opposition might have gone wrong.

Weren't there religious people in the opposition?

We can say that at least three of the parties, which we can call the six-table, were parties that emphasised the religious aspect more.

Well, I can't say that the IYI party and the Democrat party are far away from the conservatives, even though they don't have direct religious discourses.

The CHP is the only one left.

Can you say that the Republican People's Party is a party against religion?

It is true, especially during Atatürk's period, practices that many religious people today would not like may have been implemented in order to modernise the country, but do those practices show that the people who run the party are not religious people?

Does the fact that today's rulers have different religious beliefs pose a problem for the governance of the country? Should it be?

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The reason why the opposition lost the election is not because it is not conservative!

So why do you think it lost?

Meral Hanım got up from the table, people were scared!

Mr Ahmet said there would be a crisis if Mr Kemal took a decision without asking us, people were scared!

Mr Ali hinted at the first four articles of the constitution, people were scared!

Mr Kemal said he was a gang of five, he said he would bring 418 billion dollars to your noses, the capital owners were scared!

Kandil said we support Mr Kemal, Mr Kemal did not say who the hell are you, people were scared!

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Is it really so simple that the opposition lost the election?

What do you think was the hidden meaning underlying the discourse that you are not the candidate to win?

What did the candidate who will win mean? Didn't it directly mean that Kemal Bey could not win?

Why couldn't Kemal Bey win?

Yes, why couldn't he win?

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So how can we enter the hearts of these Anatolian people?

Let's enter mosques, wear our shalwars and behave like Anatolian people!

Let's change the president, let a conservative leader take over, for example Ekrem Bey should be the president. Wasn't he reading the Koran beautifully?

Can we do that?

Then let the CHP say that we are now a conservative party?

If it did that, would the conservative and nationalist people of Anatolia say OK?

The secular people on the coasts will vote no matter what, they have no other choice!

If it can convince the Anatolian people, the CHP will definitely come to power in the next elections!

Is this the solution?

Will TRT say that the CHP has become a conservative party and show the CHP to Anatolian people?

If this is the solution, will we give up being a civilised state?

Don't we want to be a social state?

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This is what goes through my mind.

On the one hand, on the other hand, if you want to come to power in Turkey, you have to have a conservative point of view.

Are the conservative point of view and the requirements of the modern world in conflict?

I don't think so, but I think there are many people in Turkey who think so.

Otherwise, could this government have stayed in power for so long? Isn't what this government has been telling people in the election squares all this time that we are a conservative government?

I remember that they even took to the squares with the Koran.

However, if only conservative discourses worked, there are parties that claim to be more conservative than these. I think there is something else that has kept the government in power all these years.

Mr Erdoğan is a man of the people!

Yes, this must have had a great effect, but isn't he a people's man and the others are not?

Didn't Kemal Bey make a few videos from his kitchen, didn't he show people that he is also a people's man?

Well, he is also a man of the people, but how can I put it, he is a bit different. After all, the conservative nationalist people of Anatolia don't vote for him. I guess he doesn't see himself that much.

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The situation the government has brought the country to is obvious. On the one hand, people are complaining, but on the other hand, they are handing the country over to Mr Tayyip again despite the mischief, montage videos, corruption and mismanagement that have developed in front of their eyes.

So they are actually satisfied with the administration.

And they are not just saying that it is the lesser of two evils, they are giving their votes wholeheartedly.

While the winds of change are blowing in the opposition, there needs to be a change that can capture this love.

But the opposition seems to be caught up in seat fights instead of thinking about these.

Kemal Bey is a good person, but I think he got too ambitious. He is trying to bring the party somewhere in the way he thinks is right, but on the other hand, he is still trying his best not to get up from that seat, not wanting to see that what he has not been able to do all this time, what he could not do even if he tried to do it, and perhaps his own efforts would not work no matter what he did.

I don't know what more needs to be done in order to win the hearts of the conservative nationalist people of Anatolia, but it seems to me that it cannot be done with chats in village cafes. It is not that easy to win people's trust. There are many things you need to change, from your lifestyle to your perspective on life.

Maybe you need to change the Anatolian people. Since you can't do that without coming to power, let the hikes come, let the drums beat, there is a festival, this government will be in power for another twenty years, it looks like that from here.

Start celebrating your work!

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow.

Araştırmacı Yazar Deniz BURSALIOĞLU
Author Deniz BURSALIOĞLU
All Articles

  • 04.08.2023
  • Time : 4 min
  • 2199 Read

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