What was the message of the electorate? Did it say it wanted an end to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in government?
Buoyed with the “success” of the New York talks, Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı shyly declared that even if it would be overoptimistic to expect a resolution to the over-50-years-old Cyprus problem by the end of the year, he could say that a resolution might be achieved within months.
Is Turkey moving forward to embrace an early election within months?
What was the message of the electorate? It was obvious for many people, while many others have been still trying to figure it out.
It was no joke for millions of Turks who queued in front of ballot boxes in the early hours of the day to cast their votes and determine the fate of their country, as well as the fate of the country’s absolute power-seeking president. Was President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the ballot? Was it a referendum on presidential powers?
The expectation is that this Sunday there will be a very high turnout of Turks casting their votes in parliamentary elections, which may either usher Turkey’s governance system toward an elected dictatorship or save the fragile democracy badly hurt by theAKP's 13-year-old majoritarian understanding
The Turkish constitution and political tradition underlines presidential unaccountability for administrative actions he might take alone or together with the government
It was as if there was an undeclared curfew. Early in the morning [May 31], Istanbul police closed down all major roads leading to Gezi Park, the sparking point of the 2013 nationwide anti-government protests.
It was the mother of republican Turkey’s many bad habits.
