The famous Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk did not share the alarm of many others when the Justice and Development Party (JDP) rose to power in secularist Kemalist Turkey. “Let's wait and see,” he said. The JDP's first years in power seemed to bear out Pamuk's opinion. The progress was tangible and confidence in the economy soared. So why not give politicians, even of an ultra-conservative Islamist stripe, a chance at power? But as subsequent years went by, Pamuk began to have reservations and during the past two years in particular he did not conceal his dismay at the creeping Erdogan-style fascism that is bent on repressing not only those of opposing opinion but also those who dare voice a different opinion at all. Now alarmed that the dictatorship is moving quicker than ever to dig in its heels, Turkey's sole Nobel Prize laureate said in a recent interview that the JDP has lost its respectability. The implication, of course, is that the image of the party's main cofounder, now Turkish president, has grown tarnished. The interview was conducted by Hürriyet and was circulated in Radikal and other opposition newspapers. In spite of Pamuk's celebrated literary status, it was not carried by the state-run Anatolia News Agency, as though it were living on another planet. As the interview was taking place, the last final preparations were being made for the fifth congress of the party in question. Its activities concluded on Saturday, with a vote to renew Ahmet Davutoglu's leadership of the party. It was such a heart-warming scene, at least as portrayed by the ubiquitous pro-government media that described the congress as a landmark in the party's political and developmental struggle to usher in a “new Turkey” by 2023, the centennial of the founding of the Ataturk republic. Naturally, it had all been scripted in advance. The names of those on their way up the JDP ladder onto the central board had been pre-determined, as had the names of those who would have to leave in order to make room for the injection of new blood in anticipation of the forthcoming general elections. Nor does it take a great leap to identify the architect and stage director of this event, required for the purposes of democratic scenery. It was Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president and de facto party chief and prime minister. He may have been physically absent from the ceremonies, but his presence was tangible. Curiously, former president and JDP cofounder Abdullah Gül had chosen to sit this congress out, excusing himself at the last moment but without citing a reason. Also noticeable for their absence were such prominent JDP figures as Bülent Arınç and Ali Babacan. Perhaps this is an early sign that instead of recouping its losses in the 7 June polls, the JDP's popularity will drop further in the early elections set for 1 November. This will be contrary to the calculations of the mastermind of the sudden collision course with the Kurds, embarked upon in the hope of generating a climate that would reverse his party's electoral fortunes, and in spite of the dozens of civilian and military casualties due to the new outbreak of clashes. Now here's a question: Is it conceivable that a soldier's widow or a grieving mother of a dead policeman, or the family mourning the victim of a stray bullet from a sudden clash between militants and police, would head to the polls on 1 November in order place a tick next to the JDP on the ballot? Surely if such a tick did appear, something would have to be wrong. In other words, Turkish voters would have to have had undergone some genetic mutation that made them captives of their executioner. As this has not occurred, in a free and fair poll ballots would be marked to say a thousand times no to the JDP and its master residing in the Ak Saray (White Palace). In large expanses of Anatolia, the people are now fated to wake up to the sounds of explosions or missile fire, and to go to bed as the thunder of fighter planes and shots of gunfire pierce the night air. The country has been driven to the brink of civil war, which in a sense has become a synonym for the presidential system that Erdogan thirsts for. As soon as Erdogan recovered from the shock of his party's plunge in the June polls, preventing it from unilaterally forming a government, he realised that his only option was to engineer an electoral rematch and “war against terrorism” scenario, in order to tip public opinion back in his party's favour. People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Selahattin Demirtas was among the first of many to realise Erdogan's cynical designs. Rhetorically addressing Erdogan and the JDP government, Demirtas said: “You are driving soldiers and youth to the fields of death so that you can stay in power. Do people have to die just so that you can remain in control?” Then, in response to former minister of energy and natural resources Taner Yildiz's expressed desire “die as a martyr”, Demirtas tweeted: “The former minister of energy, Taner Yıldız, wanted to become a martyr. Let him keep watch in #Dağlıca for one night.” Dağlıca was where 14 soldiers died in an ambush Wednesday before last. “Of course it's easy to shoot from the hip in Ankara. You send the sons of the poor to war while your children sit in luxury,” Demirtas continued, adding that while JDP leaders sent the children of the poor off to war their own sons “either paid to get out of military service or got medical records saying they are unfit.” In a similar vein, National Movement Party (NMP) parliamentary deputy Okay Vural lashed out at Erdogan: “How many lives do we have to lose so that you can get your presidential system?” He continued: “So many people have died, and the JDP leaders are still talking about winning a parliamentary majority.” Vural added: “It is as though they are putting a gun to the people's head and saying ‘Either vote for us or your children will die!' What will happen if the people don't give you the majority you're looking for in the next elections? Will more people have to die?” The Republican People's Party (RPP), the largest opposition party, has also been outspoken on this matter. RPP spokesman Haluk Koç, after urging Turkish citizens to remain united and work together to safeguard the nation, spoke of those who sought to exploit terrorism to advance their own interests. Said Koç, “They are trying to reap gains from the destruction, the tears of mourners and the perpetuation of chaos. In fact, some believe that their shares in the political stock market go up as the numbers of martyrs increase. To these people we say, ‘We will never let you get what you're after.'” He stressed that everyone knows the identity of who is responsible for the current situation in the country, saying, “Who was governing the country at the time when some Turkish cities had turned into weapons depots and mines were being planted along the roads?” Koç was responding here to Erdogan's allegations that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has taken advantage of the peace negotiations that the JDP government initiated three years ago in order to stock up on arms. Erdogan was hardly asleep at the wheel at the time. But he has decided to turn against his former peace partner out of the belief that his war against terrorism (for which read the Kurds, not Islamic State) will win him a political victory. But this war of his is certain to backfire, for he will never win by votes a presidential system tailored solely for him.
