Last year I bought an interesting phone.
I received a call from a friend of mine, a member of parliament for three terms, who was involved in the founding of the AK Party, who worked in the municipality during Mr. Erdoğan's term as mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, and who has National Vision roots.
“I'll come for a coffee,” he said.
By all means... I welcome it.
He came, we sat and chatted, and after a while he got to the point.
He was asked a question by a prominent member of the AK Party's top cadre who had been both a minister and a governor in the past:
“You know Mr. Nurhan. Can you ask her...
Why don't non-Muslim communities vote for the AK Party?”
The idea behind the problem is this:
It is claimed that non-Muslims have experienced one of the most comfortable periods in many issues throughout the history of the Republic. Despite this, there is no political equivalent of this at the ballot box.
I didn't refuse my friend's request.
It was summer vacation and I had time. I sat down, thought long and hard and wrote a comprehensive evaluation.
But I understand that what I wrote was not well received.
Because there is a serious difference between expectation and reality.
I said this clearly:
Non-Muslims in Turkey are not a cult.
It is not a tribe.
It is not a communal bloc at all.
Therefore, we cannot vote en masse.
Our vote is individual.
Even within the same house.
I don't interfere with my wife's vote and she doesn't interfere with my vote.
This is why the expectation of some politicians in Turkey to “get block votes from the community” is based on a false assumption from the beginning.
For us, the main thing is much simpler:
It is the peace, law and prosperity of the country we live in.
This land is safe, prosperous and strong.
I am not saying this theoretically.
I have been a politician in the Republican People's Party.
I openly criticized the mistakes I saw within the party.
What was the result?
I was expelled from the party three years ago.
Today I see those who expelled me fighting with each other, accusing each other.
So the criticisms I made that day were not entirely unjustified.
But it is not only the CHP.
Most political parties in Turkey have the same disease.
The myth of an untouchable, uncriticizable leader is being created around the presidents.
Internal party democracy is being shelved.
Those who criticize are ostracized.
And then inflated egos grow around this myth.
And those egos try to rule the country after a while.
This is precisely the main reason for the political deadlock Turkey is experiencing today.
Parties are not institutionalized.
Leaders are being sacralized.
Criticism is considered treason.
In such a political climate, neither true democracy can flourish nor healthy political competition can emerge.
Therefore, no party in the current political structure in Turkey can present a strong and reassuring vision for the future of the country with its current organizational form.
That's why we have been going through the same cycle for years.
The country is moving forward and backward.
We are swaying, we are rolling... but we can't get a firm direction.
The essence of the problem is actually very simple:
Turkey is still a country of leaders, not parties.
And as long as this does not change, the quality of politics will not change even if the results of the polls change