Erdogan goes all in
Friends of Turkey no doubt hope for another rebuke to the government in a special election now set for Nov. 1. However, the government’s contradictory policies are unlikely to be clarified in any outcome.
In regular elections in June, the near-Islamist Justice and Development Party, or AKP, lost its majority, falling to 258 of 550 seats in the parliament. The People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, which supports and is supported by Turkey’s Kurdish minority, entered parliament for the first time with 80 seats and significant non-Kurdish support.
The president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had moved up from prime minister to what has been a largely ceremonial post but remains the chief decision-maker. He enlisted Turkey in the fight against the Islamic State and also Syria’s government of Bashar Assad — but is attacking Syrian Kurds, who are among the most effective anti-Assad fighters.
Erdogan in June hoped to win 60 percent of the seats, which would permit his party alone to change the constitution to give the president formal power. Opposition parties say he stonewalled required negotiations for a coalition government in order to try for 60 percent again.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is supposed to form an allparty caretaker administration, but initially only HDP among the three opposition parties agreed to serve. The government in July broke off 2-year-old peace talks with the Kurdish terror group PKK (which helps the Syrian Kurds) and began air strikes against PKK installations as well as artillery bombardments of Syrian Kurd positions. HDP leaders accused Erdogan of sabotaging the talks to generate anti-Kurdish sentiment and votes.
In July Turkey permitted U.S. warplanes to use Turkish bases, but missions are not supposed to support Syrian Kurds, as the United States would like to do.
Something’s got to give soon. Turkey could gain prestige and influence if it sponsored and protected an independent state embracing Kurds of Turkey and Syria, but Erdogan does not have the heart or wisdom to do it.