Turkish deputy PM says half of society who doesn’t vote for ruling party perceives them with hatred

ISTANBUL

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Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has said although the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) receives 50 percent of the votes at the polls, the rest of society, who did not vote for them, look on them with hate.

“We receive 50 percent of the votes, but it turns into hate speech from the rest of the 50 percent,” said Arınç, speaking to private broadcaster CNN Türk on Feb. 7. “When we used to go out on the streets, our supporters would love us very much and our opponents would respect us. Now I detect looks filled with hatred,” he said.

Arınç said there was social ossification and polarization in Turkey, though this would not be an obstacle to receiving 50 percent at the polls, adding this would lead the country to be unmanageable.

Arınç said a cat would claw someone who comes upon itself too much, an example he gave to explain the need to use a soft language in the country’s daily politics.

Arınç said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had begun with a positive reputation, but the prime minister also needed to watch his rhetoric and not begin using words of violence.

“[Davutoğlu] should not use the rhetoric of violence in politics. He does not use it now, but if he says ’I should go with the flow and also rumble at people,’ I fear a polarization among the masses,” Arınç said.
 
Recalling President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s appeal for votes so his former AKP, which he did not explicitly name, can reach “400 lawmakers” in parliament during the general elections in June, Arınç said the votes the nation casts could not be specified as either less or more, but should be respected.

“There should be a strong political government and it should be on its own,” said Arınç, adding the AKP’s main aim was to reach a number of deputies in parliament that will allow it to make a new constitution on its own.

“If we want a new Turkey at the June 7 elections, we will give it 400 lawmakers,” Erdoğan had said, speaking at a public rally in the northwestern province of Bursa on Feb. 6.

Arınç said if they reached 367 deputies or even more in parliament, the minimum number of deputies needed to make fundamental changes to the constitution, a referendum should be held about a new constitution and the nation’s view should be taken into consideration.
Stating there could be injustice and politics resting on short-term benefits inside the AKP, as the party was made of humans, Arınç said the important thing in politics was siding with justice.