The calls of the People’s Alliance to “Announce your candidate”, which means “Announce them and let’s give them a rough time by destroying them”, as if no one knows who they are already, on the one hand; and the calls of those who think that Turkey should now be led by a new leader, who want a candidate who will definitely win the election to be determined and to start working now, on the other hand—these calls have not yet been enough to allow a candidate to be referred to by name. The Table of Six is caught between the efforts of the ruling faction to foment the flare-up, the pressure of time, and the demands of the bases and those who are looking for hope. Top this off with its own internal dynamics, and the opposition’s announcement of its presidential candidate has turned into a difficult task, like the realization of a very problematic birth.
But it was obvious from the beginning who the candidate was …
Personalized work approach
Some so-called visionary opinion leaders, who have a hard time seeing beyond those in the public eye, are in a race to define society and the future by engaging in an intense debate on the familiar names that public opinion polls focus on. They make predictions about the chances of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mansur Yavaş or Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu winning the election against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and try to dictate the candidate who stands the best chance among them. They are repeating years of shallow political debates in familiar, vicious ways. Only the names are different, while the discussions, the debaters, the methods and the goals are the same: to define the work to be done based on the person to be elected! They think that once the person to be elected is determined, the relevant work will be tailored to that person’s competencies.
First of all, it is necessary to identify the work to be done. Only then is it possible to identify presidential candidates, by searching for and finding the people who are most competent and qualified to do the work. Otherwise, if we determine the presidential candidate through the shallow debates we are familiar with, Turkey will have to postpone for a long time to come reaching the modern levels it so desires and deserves to reach.
The work to be done
The economists of the opposition political parties are working feverishly, in contrast to the ruling party, which thinks that the best of everything is its own inconsistent, day-saving decisions and actions. Valuable works are emerging, especially the work of the İYİ Party’s economic staff. The aim of all of this can be summarized as follows: It is to ensure that politicians and senior bureaucrats ruling in the fields of economy, monetary policy, education, foreign affairs and other issues make scientific and correct decisions to stabilize the economy, to ensure the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, to fight corruption and bribery effectively, and to purge public tenders, which are regarded as the biggest gateway to bribery, from arbitrariness, corruption and bribery. In other words, to ensure political stability, judicial independence and the rule of law for economic stability.
Political and economic stability
Leaving aside the government’s so-called contentment and satisfaction with the current situation, those who think that Turkey does not deserve its position and who dream of a much better role for it agree that political stability, an independent judiciary and the rule of law are essential for economic stability. Therefore, these issues, on which the opposition parties are united, must define and outline the work of the president-elect.
All political parties, including the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which declared a few years ago that the election of the president by the people was a red line, agree that for political and economic stability, it is imperative to restore the state order that has been disrupted by the presidential system as soon as possible. And to do this, it is necessary to reconcile the government and the opposition. Consensus on the restoration is also necessary to change the Constitution without a referendum and to win the support of an overwhelming majority of the population for the change.
The right person for the work to be done
In these circumstances, the task for politicians is not to run for office but to find a wise person capable of leading such a compromise. This wise person needs to know the world and Turkey well, they need to have a solid understanding of our opportunities and fundamental problems, and they should be an unadulterated lover of law and democracy. The main task of this wise person should be to reconcile the opponents in the restoration of the state, and they should commit clearly to this duty. The fact that a president who cannot control the parliament has to seek approval from the parliament for every step they take makes it essential for the candidate to be a politically neutral person. However, the political parties that will nominate this candidate should remain vigilant and take the necessary precautions now, to prevent this person who, if elected president, will have seized enormous state powers, from violating or reneging on their pledge as a result of the intoxication of power.
The candidates of the ruling, opposition and marginal political parties, the alliances, the Table of Six, and even those who will run on their own should be competent to do the job I have briefly described above; they should be people who can be trusted by different segments of society and who will receive votes from different political constituencies.
The name of the candidate is Anatolian Child. To nominate anyone other than this, a foreigner or a corrupt person, is equal to treason against this country and nation.
