Polls show no difference from Turkey’s June election

We have just one month until the coming snap election and we see that the possibility of getting a significantly different result from the June 7 election is getting lower. 

From the night of the inconclusive June election, it was always the president’s idea to opt for early elections rather than push the limits of politics to form a coalition government. He hopes that in a new election the Justice and Development Party (AKP) would be able to win enough seats to form a one-party government.  

But according to the latest İPSOS polls, such a thing happening looks like a distant possibility. 

First, there is the public perception about the head of the AKP, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. The rate of people who answered “Ahmet Davutoğlu” to the question, “Which leader do you think is most successful?” is just 4 percent. Even if you think the AKP is led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan anyway and Davutoğlu is not important the picture is still not very pleasing for the party. The number of people answering the same question with “Erdoğan” has fallen from 36 percent to 30 percent in one month. Erdoğan’s appearance at public rallies to change this situation is also backlashing. 

In response to the question, “How should President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan act during the election campaign?” the number choosing “He should be at equal distance from all parties” is 79 percent. The number saying he should be active is only 16 percent. 

On the other hand, Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has gone up in one month from 18 percent to 20 percent. 

According to the survey, those who are content with the current state of Turkey dropped from 34 percent in May to 15 percent in September.

In response to the question, “How do you evaluate the AKP’s performance?” those answering “unsuccessful” increased by 14 points to 58 percent.  

Finally, 88 percent of respondents said “absolutely not” in response to the question, “Will you consider changing the party you voted for?” 

In other words, just to satisfy Erdoğan’s stubbornness we will hold another election and the point we will reach will be no different to the morning of June 8. 

Meanwhile, the country has been left without a government for months, the economy has lost its balance, and hundreds of young people have died. All for what?
 
A crime that does not exist in Europe  

Journalist Hasan Cemal has been under investigation twice on the grounds that he insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He gave his statement again to the prosecutor earlier this week. 

According to the deputy head of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Işıl Karakaş, a crime that “does not exist” anywhere else in Europe has been invented in Turkey. It is now dangling as a threat over the heads of anyone who wants to raise their voice. 

Throughout the history of the Republic of Turkey, there has never been another president who has claimed to have been “insulted” so much. Do his prosecutors and lawyers want Erdoğan to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the “president who has been insulted the most”? 

According to Karakaş, there is no such crime in Europe because freedom of expression is a fundamental part of democracy. If you think there is an insult in something said or written then you can file suit to protect your personal rights, but this would not be a penal case. 

The ECHR argues that public officials should be open to even the heaviest of criticism, and even if courts in Turkey give sentences for these changes we will see that all of them will be revoked in Strasbourg.