The real question for presidential elections

Two questions of the coming term could be as such, in a “light hearted view:”

-Will Recep Tayyip Erdoğan be a candidate for presidency?

-If he is, who would be prime minister?

We should first say this: “These questions will not be answered by scriptwriters, but by the will of the Turkish people.”

We may then skip this “light hearted view” and come to the point.

The presidential elections will be, beyond personal expectations, a test for Turkish politics. The reason for this is that these elections and the following general elections will determine the new political mentality of democratic Turkey.

Let me explain:

Where should the presidential candidate stand in the most fundamental matters?

What will he say about the peace process?

What kind of a discourse will he develop for democratic Turkey; what kind of an assurance will he be on the subject of freedom?

What kind of a calendar will he present for the European Union target?

From the perspective of the CHP 

Let us assume the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) decided on a candidate. What kind of a program will the CHP follow on these three topics? 

Will it be targeting, under the image of a party of the law/party of the state, a CHP-Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on the axis of the ultranationalists?

Or will it try opening up to wider segments of people with courageous discourse?

No matter what they say, it is the Kurdish votes that will be determinant in presidential elections. But, the issue is not the Kurdish votes only…

The place to be reached is the votes of those who yearn for a democratic Turkey.

And these votes no longer belong to an ethnic origin.

I wrote earlier that for the CHP to become a social democratic party it has to undergo a severe discussion now.

When you look at the CHP’s votes, it looks like a coastal party. There is no East; there is no Southeast. It is not seen in Central Anatolia, in the Black Sea. While the CHP is going through this deadlock, there is a new search launched in Kurdish politics.

The importance of the HDP

Come on, let us ask ourselves: Why was the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) formed in the first place?
The HDP is the effort to become a liberal/social democratic party transforming into a nationwide Turkey party from its Kurdish party identity.

It is the target of transporting ethnic politics to democratic Turkey politics. 

Moreover…

At the basis of this search lies the justification that the demand for freedoms and democratic politics is not for Kurds, but for all of the people of Turkey and that projects should be developed for a solution.
I don’t know where the CHP will stand in that search. But I am ready to write over and over again to explain this new era.

The reason is this effort is very important from the point of the integrity of democratic Turkey’s politics; it is most valuable.