Page 4 - bne IntelliNews newspaper 14 July 2017

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July 14, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
It is unlikely that Kilicdaroglu, who has not yet said whether he would run for president, will seek an alliance with the HDP, fearing that such a move will alienate nationalists and some patriotic CHP supporters. The HDP garnered 10.8% of the vote in the November 2015 election.
Meanwhile, Meral Aksener, a popular nationalist politician, is expected to launch her own party by the end of this year. She was expelled from the MHP for challenging Bahceli’s leadership. Some nationalists, who have previously voted for the AKP and MHP, may support Aksener’s new party not the CHP in the next election.
The people gathered in Istanbul on July 9 were happy to see a bolder and more combative Kilicdaroglu. There is no doubt that some of those who attended the Istanbul rally demand immediate, decisive action from Kilicdaroglu, while others
are willing to show patience and wait until 2019. Kilicdaroglu has to keep these groups together.
For the moment, Kilicdaroglu, however, does not appear to have a solid road map for confronting the powerful Erdogan, who has survived the 2013 Gezi Park protests and a coup attempt last year and has not lost a single election since 2002.
“Kilicdaroglu has reinjected hope in millions of Turks who are deeply worried about the rapid de- terioration of their democratic and secular system, and the glaring injustices they see,” Semih Idiz observed. But he added that “no one is expecting an overnight miracle to emerge from this march”.
For the first time in years the CHP and Kilicdaroglu dominated the political conversation
in Turkey, at least for 25 days. But the question is whether he can seize on the current momentum to build a national movement that can finally tilt the balance of power in favour of the opposition.
“Erdogan has carefully avoided taking drastic actions against the marchers and let them hold
a giant peaceful rally in Istanbul; he can now simply play for time and wait for the momentary excitement to dissipate,” said Wolfgango Piccoli at Teneo Intelligence.
The government is responding to the Justice March with events between July 11 and July 16 across Turkey to mark the first anniversary of the coup attempt.
Parliament will convene in a special session on July 15, with President Erdogan addressing the nation at 02:32am, the exact time when fighter jets belonging to the coup plotters dropped bombs on parliament a year ago, Hurriyet Daily News reported. There will be a national unity march over the Bosporus Bridge, the name of which has been changed to the July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge after the coup attempt, and Erdogan will also give a speech at the bridge, according to the newspaper.
According to Piccoli, the first anniversary of the coup attempt provides Erdogan with a great opportunity to “bury the Justice March”.
“As for the CHP, it will at best gain some self- confidence and vigour but it is doubtful that the opposition party will be able to keep the momentum created by the march, especially since its agenda for the week and months ahead remains unclear,” Piccoli observed.
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