10 reasons why the Cemaat lost

1.    Their rhetoric was Islamic but too intellectual...People did not understand what they said.

2.    Fethullah Gülen’s residence in Pennsylvania became a problem. It led to people buying Erdoğan’s “foreign plot” claim.

3.    They were forced to cooperate with the Republican People’s Party (CHP). This was not the right chemistry. It would not have worked and it did not work.

4.    They have tremendous influence in the bureaucracy... They have educated and well equipped staff… But they do not have the power to influence the votes. The election results have shown this.

5.    The essential reason for them appearing so powerful was the coalition they established with the Justice and Development Party (AKP). When the coalition fell apart, they lost their influence.

6.    They acted in a very selfish way during their coalition with the AKP. They did not open space for other Islamic groups. This led to the alienation of other Islamic groups in the fight they entered with the government.

7.    They could not explain why they waged war against the political power they had supported so fervently.

8.    They did not raise their voice about corruption allegations. Then all of a sudden they discovered the corruption... This has harmed their credibility.

9. They could not explain to society why they targeted the intelligence agency of the state and why, as a religious group, they became obsessed with the head of the intelligence.

10.    They targeted Iran in a way that even the secular circles could not understand, let alone Islamic circles.

Understanding the conservatives

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I am again running the article I wrote three days before the elections for those feeling disappointment seeing no serious drop AKP votes:

The internal situation of the country does not look very bright.

Corruption allegations are the order of the day. Worse corruption allegations will probably be covered up. There is no independent judiciary. Restrictions on freedoms are on the agenda. There is a one-man rule, authoritarianism.

In short...

No democracy came from the AKP’s government.

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No democracy came from the AKP, but normalization on a very important issue came out:

A social picture where conservatives could breathe, walk with their heads up; an environment where they felt equal in all senses to others...

The AKP and its leader Tayyip Erdoğan is the one that made possible that picture.
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Until a short while ago...

Students wearing headscarves could not enter universities, hell used to break loose when a parliamentarian wearing a headscarf entered Parliament.

The government solved this problem. Those who had created the problem understood how irrational what they did in the past was and started to say “those wearing headscarves are also our sisters.”
To what do we owe all this?

What do you mean? Do you think this will not carry importance with the electorate?

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At any rate, Tayyip Erdoğan has mobilized an extraordinarily strong propaganda machine and succeeded in providing ideological coverage on the issue of “corruption,” telling the crowds “they are attacking me because I provided you with those gains.”

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Otherwise the people do not say, “I don’t care if he steals.”

People do not say “this time, our thieves should steal.”

They do not say “let’s turn a blind eye to the corruption of those who are from us.”

Even if there are such sick minded people…

The majority of crowds voting for the AKP are not made up of those sick minded people.

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There is a need to understand the conservatives... ”Understanding conservatives” does not mean whitewashing authoritarian tendencies, corruption, illegalities.

This is why it is useful to understand the conservatives:

To understand the question rationally: “why conservative crowds do not depart radically from the AKP.”
 
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There is a magical relationship established between Tayyip Erdoğan and the conservative masses.

The ending of this relationship requires time; it won’t happen from today to tomorrow.

You need to face these masses with a new trust relationship.

The opposition, especially the CHP, took serious steps, but a relationship based on trust is not one that is easily set up.
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Not only the CHP, even the most democratic circles, have only recently reached a maturity level about the demands of conservatives and their freedoms.

But this situation is viewed like this by the conservatives

“Because they are now weaker facing the government, they feel obliged to act in a more democratic way.”

There is a doubt about honesty.

It is meaningless under these circumstances to expect from the conservatives a quick and radical departure from their party…

There is the need to set aside identifying them as “sheep” and such hostile language and work patiently and genuinely for confidence building.

Working relentlessly, without getting tired or frustrated or yielding to pessimism...

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In short what I am saying is this:

Let’s oppose corruption, illegalities and restrictions on freedoms in the strongest way possible.
But let’s do this without being carried away to hating people.