Key people required for coalitions

First, let us remember that Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said, “At this stage, we want to be positive. To be at the same distance to all political parties is a negative approach. Distance is a negative concept. I want to use the phrase ‘equal closeness.’ I want to be positive.”

I regard these words as the positive door of the coalition negotiations process. As I said earlier, coalition is a culture. It is the culture of conciliation and respect for the other. 

Whoever says, “A coalition is absolutely wrong,” is being disrespectful to the “conciliatory culture” of democracy. 

Of course, it is difficult. It requires time and understanding. It requires respect for the ideas of the other. Forming a coalition is a process that removes opposite fronts, camps and polarization. 

Sometimes a photo, a moment, is adequate to explain it all. I would like to add to it that sometimes even one word summarizes the most complicated situations. 

What Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was trying to explain about “distance and closeness” was such a message. 

Adequate attention should be paid to this message. 

Second message 

The prime minister, by saying, “Each political party represents the will of the nation,” is sending a message to the Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) exclusionary attitude toward the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).  
This is an expression which takes into consideration the working conditions in parliament, and also the parliamentary commissions, in the case of a coalition. 

Imagine there will be commissions formed in parliament. In some commissions, the HDP will have important seats. 

In a sense, this is a reminder for the MHP. As a matter of fact, the HDP has 80 deputies, just like MHP. 
My lobby experience during coalition times is telling me that the heads of the political parties agree on the principles; it is the key guys who go into the details and solve them.  

Here, the most critical issues, the sharing of the ministries, the government programs, are detailed and worked by these key guys. Even a general manager can be a problem. The solution rests with the key people. 

For this reason, the key person, the one Davutoğlu will assign for negotiations after the religious holiday of Eid al-fıtr, is important.    

I remember from the past; for instance, the True Path Party (DYP) and Social Democrat Populist Party (SHP) coalition. 

The key people were Hikmet Çetin and Mehmet Dülger… The person, dear Gökberk Ergenekon, who would hold secret midnight talks but not tell a thing afterwards, was nevertheless able to solve the most critical issues…

Cemil Çiçek, too, is a good key person. There are also many other key persons such as Ömer Çelik and Cevdet Yılmaz. 

From the Republican People’s Party (CHP), there are Haluk Koç and Gürsel Tekin. 

You would rather monitor the real developments after the holidays, when it is their turn. Look for the key people…

The challenge from the KCK 

Why has the “ceasefire is over” statement arrived now? This may block HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş.

A July 11 statement by the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), a supra organization of Kurdish groups that includes the PKK, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, appeared to signal an end to a cease-fire between Turkey’s security forces and the PKK.

Is this stabbing for legitimate politics? We will see whether it is or not…