Turkey’s “Quo Vadis?” moment.

Turkey’s “Quo Vadis?” moment. (HD).By SEMİH İDİZ.

This is my last piece before Sunday’s March 30 local elections. Normally it would not have made any difference whatsoever. These are, after all, merely local elections, and in any normal country people cast their vote in such elections for the parties and individuals they believe will provide them with the best municipal services.

But these are not normal times. We are going to wake up to a new Turkey on Monday. Not in the sense that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says though. It will either be a Turkey that sets a more positive course for itself in terms of democracy and accountability or one where the infighting gets worse, thus damaging further the democratic and legal environment.

The reason is Erdoğan has transformed these elections into a life or death matter and has admitted openly that he expects the electorate to clear his name of corruption charges. In other words, the question is not about simple municipal services, but about clearing Erdoğan’s name by non-legal (please note that I don’t say “illegal”) methods.

Erdoğan has proved he has no love lost on the 50 percent that did not vote for him in the last general elections. He could not pronounce even on word of sympathy for a 15-year-old kid killed by the police during last summer’s anti-government protests. He even got the kid’s, namely Berkin Elvan’s, mother booed during one of his rallies.

I therefore stick to my initial prediction. Unless Erdoğan miraculously transforms himself from a majoritarian to a pluralist, there is more trouble in store for Turkey. This is not agitation or scaremongering, but many peoples’ reading of the big picture.
It is hard to believe in miracles, but miraculous occurrences do happen in life. It is nevertheless a sad day for Turkey when we have to rely on this to save our democracy and make this a country where people can trust the laws of the land, regardless of who is elected. Read the full story here.