The end of the emergency rule ought to be a development worth celebrating. No extraordinary imposition can and should last forever, but the Turkish-style emergency rule has been such a traumatic one that when news emerged almost two years after it was declared that it would end was a great relief.
Who is pro-settlement regarding Cyprus and who is not? To put it frankly, aside from Turkish Cypriots, there appear to be no subscribers to a Cyprus resolution.
Hours after he delivered the oath and started his second term in office, Turkey’s strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made sweeping changes to the state system, gathering the power to appoint all civilian and military bureaucrats, including the power to single-handedly decide on the promotions of ranks and retirement in the military. Erdoğan has become the sole decision-maker.
Why was emergency rule declared in the country? Why did the president and the cabinet obtain the authority to issue emergency law decrees? Was it not to take the country out of the danger, threats, and impacts of the Islamist-military failed coup of 2016?
Excluding the mayoral elections scheduled for the spring of 2019, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his two-party Islamist-nationalist “People’s Alliance” probably have no imminent challenge except unpredictability regarding what new steps Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli might take.
Elections are over. Quite a number of Turks are celebrating the results as a “victory,” while there is a completely depressive mood in some segments of society.
The massive transformation of Turkey, which was established as a modern secular Turkish republic in 1923, entered a new phase on June 24 with the official introduction of the presidential executive governance system. The executive presidency was indeed de facto launched four years ago with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s election as president. Now with the incumbent’s reelection, the system officially commenced.
Whether it be the anti-terrorism struggle, the demand to extradite a Muslim cleric from the United States, or a decision by the Austrian government to close down some mosques, Turks love to describe almost every development as “existentially important.” But probably no other development, including the military operations in Syria and northern Iraq, are as important as the upcoming parliamentary and presidential twin elections that most analysts predict to be a close race.
It is becoming clearer that the June 24 elections to choose a president and a new parliament, which might be followed by a second round of presidential elections on July 8, might produce a surprise outcome far different than what public opinion polls have been indicating so far.
