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July 14, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 3
arrested over their suspected links to self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the government says was behind the coup attempt.
And on July 11, the authorities ordered arrests
of more than 100 people working in information technology in an investigation into the Gulenist network. On July 12, arrest warrants were issued for 34 former employees of state-run broadcaster TRT and 14 soldiers.
The state of emergency, which has been renewed three times already, expires on July 19 and the government is expected to extend it once again for another three months.
It was out of the question under current circumstances to lift the state of emergency, but it may be lifted in the “not too distant future” Erdogan said on July 12.
It remains to be seen whether the Justice March represents a turning point for Kilicdaroglu, who was once seen as an incompetent politician but stunned the nation last month by making the unprecedented move to launch the Justice March.
“The Justice March may have changed the CHP itself from a static to a dynamic organism, as well as the wider political culture in Turkey,” political commentator Murat Yetkin argued in an article for Hurriyet Daily News published
on July 10.
“He started his justice march as CHP chairman... and now seems to have the potential to become Turkey’s opposition leader,” Yetkin optimistically concluded.
But the task facing Kilicdaroglu is enormous: to unite the country’s deeply fragmented opposition forces. For many outside observers, the June
9 rally in Istanbul is an indication that the CHP leader is ready to live up to the challenge. Yet the task is tremendous and more complex than it seems.
Encouraged by the large attendance at the Istanbul rally, Kilicdaroglu has vowed to step
up the struggle against the government. But he did not say how he would do that and what his strategy was: will he challenge the government at parliament or in the streets through more rallies?
The CHP cannot stop Erdogan’s AKP in parlia- ment. The ruling party has 317 seats in the 550- seat parliament versus CHP’s 133.
Moreover, the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is cooperating with the AKP since the failed coup. In fact, it was Devlet Bahceli, leader of the MHP, who proposed holding a referendum on the executive presidential system at a time when even Erdogan seemed to shelve the idea. Bahceli himself publicly declared that he would vote in favour of an executive presidency, and the ‘Yes’ campaign duly won a narrow victory on April 16, according to official results that are disputed by the opposition.
The MHP also supports the government crackdown on the HDP. The nationalist party leadership joined the AKP in criticising Kilicdaroglu’s Justice March. Bahceli accused the CHP leader of supporting the Gulenists.
The march and the rally in Istanbul attracted people from very different lines of the political spectrum, including social democrats, socialists and nationalists. Even some lawmakers from the HDP briefly joined Kilicdaroglu on the walk.
Support from different quarters of the public may seem to represent an opportunity for Kilicdaroglu to help him build a strong movement to mount a challenge to Erdogan, but this ironically is Kilicdaroglu’s dilemma: how can
he keep these dissimilar groups with different political agendas united until 2019 when the presidential and parliamentary elections will be held simultaneously? Can he keep the current momentum alive so that he can beat Erdogan in the next polls?