Erdoğan’s two-and-a-half-hour speech touched upon a large number of issues, although the acronym EU wasn’t uttered once. Journalist Mehmet Ali Birand, in comments on the speech, said the congress served as an announcement that Turkey’s EU episode has effectively ended. Journalist-writer Hadi Uluengin commented that the speech was a result of the AK Party’s increasing authoritarianism. The Taraf daily in its cover story slammed the speech, saying it was a manifesto of Turkish Islamism, an indication that Turkey was turning its face eastward.
However, a booklet listing 63 goals that are part of the AK Party’s 2023 vision was distributed to press members in envelopes during the congress. The booklet included a large array of issues from promising jobs to the disabled to new legislation making it impossible to shut down political parties and democratizing the country’s law on political parties. Other promises included raising the percentage of women in the workforce to at least 38 percent; making the military more transparent; judicial reforms, access to public services in Kurdish; passing laws against hate crimes; setting up a national anti-discrimination commission; eradicating poverty and others. Many say they find the list very progressive.
Columnist Yıldıray Oğur said he didn’t agree with the negative commentary, shared by his newspaper Taraf, that followed the congress. “I think this is a very progressive plan, in terms of issues such as democratization and the Kurdish question, and a commission to fight discrimination.” He said the points about Kurdish in the public sector were particularly important in terms of showing the party’s vision.
Oğur said, “This is practically a new party program. This is more than a roadmap. What he said in the speech will be forgotten two or three days later, but these are promised and will be there for the party to fulfill in the coming years.”
Can Paker, a prominent figure in Turkish business and civil society as head of the Turkish Economic and Social Research Foundation (TESEV), offered a sociological perspective: “I find it highly progressive. Because politicians announce such goals to attract more votes. Since these targets were included to increase votes, that means that society, the voter base, is very mature and progressive. This means we are a highly advanced society.”
Paker said: “Erdoğan wants to be elected president, and with a good portion of the vote. He wants to increase his votes. If these appeal to society, that is a very positive indicator. It is never the leader of the political party that counts, it is the people.”
The 63-item list also includes promises to pluralize participation in politics by removing possible obstacles in the way of those who would like to be involved; taking measures to ensure fairness in representation; restructuring parliamentary immunities in accordance with international norms; renewing the curriculum set for military schools and turning the gendarmerie force into a civilian security force.
The AK Party, as per the 63-point roadmap, plans to restructure the Supreme Board of Election (YSK); open to public discussion of switching to a presidential or a semi-presidential system; adopting a new and more democratic constitution; increasing the number of specialized courts; installing audio and visual systems in courtrooms to ensure efficiency and transparency in court processes; making jail time an exception for minor offenses; removal of any barriers in the way of a suspect making their defense in their mother tongue and reducing regional income disparity to a reasonable level.
But will the AK Party follow through? Oğur asserted that the voters will have to follow this up, while Paker reiterated his earlier position: “Journalists always want to inspect politicians, but I am looking at this as a sociologist. It won’t hurt to check, but as these are seen as vote-catching points, that it is good for politicians to bring them to reality.”
(Today’s Zaman)