Ruling this country after the vote

Assessments in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) reveal that there is no change in up to 9 percent of the undecided parts of the party.  

There is still some time until the referendum but the polarization in Turkey indicates that whatever the outcome is, there will not be a large difference between the two segments. 

At the end of the referendum, Turkey will be split exactly in half. There is an intense “yes” campaign the AKP is conducting, by using the means of the state to the core. Planes and other vehicles of the state carry ministers everywhere, several meetings, ceremonies of all sorts are being organized, the state television and the overwhelming majority of the media are conducting a “yes” campaign, yet again it looks difficult for them to achieve the result they desire. 

On the other hand, according to what the president and the prime minister say, those who will vote “no” will be serving terror. Accusing half of the country with aiding and abetting terror is a thing that only this government would do. 

As a matter of fact, what is being voted is only a change in the administration system. One side claims that Turkey will break its chains if the system change occurs; the other side claims that if changes are accepted then Turkey will be dragged into an authoritarian one-man system. 

And this decision will be made maybe by the switch of one single vote. 

Can a country that has changed its constitution as such be properly ruled? 

They also say that Turkey has a “survival issue.” If there is such a survival issue, then what good would a result that splits the country into two be? 

Religion before science  

One of the main reasons the West has reached its developed level today and that there is such a big difference with other countries in terms of economy is that its education was cleared of religious roots and was based on logic and science. 

Today’s Turkey is in a better position when compared to other Muslim countries thanks to the same approach of the republic project toward education. 

The AKP rule, which is about to complete its 15th year, is trying to make education be based on religious roots.  

The investment program of the Education Ministry reveals that for three years, the vocational religious high schools (imam schools) will be predominantly supported. 

Next year, 936 million Turkish Liras will be spent on the construction of all vocational schools and 879 million liras only on the building of imam schools. For all Anatolia High Schools, the allocated money is 958 million liras. 

The ministry will spend only 67 million liras on science high schools next year, while in the 2019 budget, there is no money allocated to science schools. 

What Turkey needs to do to save itself from the middle income trap is apparent. It will have a predictable legal order; the country will in general become free and Turkey will become a country manufacturing and selling technology. 

If we cannot achieve these, Turkey will again miss the new industrial revolution.  

International tests abruptly reveal that science and math education in Turkey is falling apart - let alone a foreign language - we cannot teach the kids their own language. 

While universities are being converted into high schools where scientific freedom does not exist, religious education, not science and math education, is trying to be prioritized. Unless we turn back from this path, with whom will Turkey re-develop technology? 

Those who say the executive presidential system will make Turkey fly; don’t they consider that even in that kind of system more engineers and more researchers are needed?
 
The political leg of Fethullahists 

One of the first foreign ministers of the AKP government, Yaşar Yakış told daily BirGün, “Being close to the Gülen movement was one of the most effective ways of building a political career in the AKP.”

This is no secret. Not only in politics, but also in business life, being close to Fethullah Gülen was an advantage. 

This closeness of the AKP and the Fethullahists has been the most significant factor that enabled this gang to be able to seize the state and the army. And for such an organization not to have infiltrated into the ruling party is against the grain. 

But, somehow, while those who even walk past Bank Asya and those who had to register to the trade unions of the Fethullahists to keep their jobs are dismissed from public service, there is no cleanup within the AKP for the foreseeable future.