“I was part of the Gezi park revolt just two years ago, protesting against the authoritarian rule of the governing party and reckless urban transformation projects destroying every last piece of green space in Istanbul. I witnessed police violence against peaceful protesters. Several protesters killed, many injured during the process. Even after the uprising not much has changed in Turkey, other than people’s willingness to be involved in political matters. After two years, elections in Turkey prevented a so-called “presidential system” which would create a one-man dictatorship led by president Erdogan. Governing party, AKP, lost its majority in the parliament, because HDP (which is a coalition of Kurdish political movement, leftists, feminists, greens and many other movements) got many votes, over the ten percent threshold (a benchmark imposed through a military coup in 1980). As a voter of HDP, I was really excited as I was following the results of the elections. The main election slogan of HDP was a single message to Erdogan: “We will not let you become the president”. Eventually, we achieved this goal by voting, protecting our votes against attempts of election frauds. We are overjoyed now, as we feel like we have finally achieved one of our objectives. We also know that the struggle for a democratic and peaceful Turkey will not be over soon. We will continue to work for gender equality, LGBT rights, and rights of many different faiths and cultures in Turkey. However, at least now, we have some hope for a better future.”
My Turkish friend O. wrote me this message yesterday after I asked him an opinion about the electoral results in Turkey.
I am very lucky because I have friends all over the world, so when I want to learn more about the politics of a foreign country, I know I can just write them a Facebook message and perform a “sentiment analysis”. I can go beyond the news transmitted by the media and I can really feel what youngsters in the involved part of the pond are thinking and living under their skin. O’s words really moved me for the incredible passion they transmit. O. talks about freedom, rights, about the end of a system that resembled a dictatorship, about a population that is finally waking up, a population composed by aware and empowered voters who vigorously claimed – “WE DON’T WANT A PRESIDENTIAL REPUBLIC”.
This is the vibrant emotion of democracy.
Instead, my friend E. has an opposite view. She is very scared and disappointed by the politics in her country, so she prefers not to “watch the news too much to keep her mental health”. She does not trust the HDP either, the Kurdish party.“There is an old picture of the representative of the HDP showing him with Abdullah Öcalan, who is the founder of PKK, a terrorist group killing thousands of innocent people to gain independence from Turkey…but you know, apparently Turkish have a really short memory, and forgot all those massacres”.
“Please don’t get me wrong” E. added, “I don’t say Kurdish people are bad or all Kurdish people are terrorist, but some of them are and they don’t want the Turkish Republic. They don’ t feel they belong to it and they don’ t even use our language, so why should I let them take my country, take my land after all this fight…that’s why we are worried and I hope we will be wrong and that HDP keeps its promises. Many friends of mine voted for HDP just to prevent Erdogan from winning, or because they think HDP takes into account minorities’ interests and so it’s cool. Anyway, I voted for CHP (Atatürk’s party), it is not as strong as before but me, and people who think alike, still vote for CHP because there is no other party to vote for…”
Beyond E.’s general pessimism, my friend B. seems instead very optimistic: “Ciao Luisa! 🙂 Of course I am happy, finally witnessing some democracy in my country. Let me say something: In a country where people earn approximately €300’s month, and where the “President” lives in half a billion euro palace with 1050 rooms (with golden toilets), obviously I am really happy that finally there is hope to demolish this kingdom of dictatorship. Turkey, a beautiful home of different cultures,did not deserve a ruler like him for 13 years. With these election results, anticipated by the Gezi Park protests (where people were brutally killed by the police for protesting the demolition of Gezi Park), I see that the 60% of the Turkish population has got their minds together, together as a whole, and decided to overrule the Erdogan fascism”.
