Meral Abla's fancy words!

The İYİ Party has decided to enter the local elections as “free” and “independent.”

Actually, there is not much to say about two such fancy words.

It is as if they were not “free” and “independent” before, and then suddenly they had an epiphany and thought of being “free” and “independent.”

In Turkey, even if not spoken with the tone of an Imam Hatip graduate, the mere use of these two words in any sentence by an average small-town politician is enough to make their own voters' hearts swell, their eyes mist over, and their voices tremble.

Moreover, it does not even need to carry such a deep meaning.

As long as the intonation and emphasis are done well!

Especially if it is inserted into the weekly routine of the parliamentary podium performance, and high-octane expressions like “my fellow comrades,” “the sacred cause,” “now is the time to stand up” are added, you would think the person saying this is not the leader of a political party, but the founding president of a state about to declare its independence and hoist the flag!

Yet, the whole issue is just a local election!

In the simplest terms, a success achieved here through reasonable and logical cooperation could have narrowed the political space of the medieval mentality governing the country, forced the government into an early election, and provided a glimmer of hope for millions condemned to learned helplessness.

It could have been possible to protect the metropolitan cities held by the opposition, primarily Istanbul and Ankara, and perhaps in addition to that, allow places like Bursa and Balıkesir, where the AKP won by a hair's breadth in 2019, to pass to the CHP or the İYİ Party.

But Meral Abla closed the doors with these two fancy words, and not only did she close them, she locked them and, to exempt herself from criticism, increased the dose of rhetoric peculiar to right-wing politicians so that party members would fall in line behind her without question.

Anyway, no one is saying “hand over the deed to the İYİ Party or form an alliance with the CHP that has self-evident merit.”

They are only asking for a rational, result-oriented, reasonable, and logical cooperation specific to this election, within the unique dynamics of local elections.

Without passing the buck to the GİK (General Administrative Board), she could have taken the initiative as a leader and paved the way for such a process quite easily.

She did not; on the contrary, she closed it.

It is obvious that this is a maneuver made to avoid responsibility by saying, “Well, go ask the GİK members who didn't want cooperation with the CHP,” if the party ends up in shambles in the local elections.

The end of the road is very dark! Everyone knows this.

Is Meral Abla not calculating the potential consequences of the defeat in the local elections, which could go as far as locking the doors of her party?

It is said that she will enter the local elections as “free” and “independent” to prove her mettle, continue from there until the next election, and replace the CHP in 2028. Thus, she will engage in politics as the leader of a main opposition party demanding power against the AKP.

If she thought this way, let us note that the incompetence of the new CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, who is running headlong toward disappointment, his standing on the wrong political line, and his constant and unnecessary talking that has begun to dash the hopes of the voters, have made a significant contribution to this.

Özgür Özel's constant wavering may have led Meral Abla to think, “I can harvest votes from the CHP,” but one does not need to be a prophet to say that this calculation will not hold up.

Perhaps some votes might shift to the İYİ Party from the AKP or the MHP.

But the CHP voter will not go and take refuge under Meral Abla's wings. Even if they lose hope in their party, they might vote for the Homeland Party (Memleket Partisi) or the TİP, or at most, they will not go to the polls. When even the simplest citizen with political literacy can make these calculations, why is Meral Abla in such a psychosis?

If the AKP wins metropolitan cities where billions of liras in rent are at stake, such as Adana and Antalya, especially Istanbul, even if not Ankara and Izmir, in the local elections, it will have seized very important financial resources for the 2028 elections.

It will feed its voters, create massive amounts of rent for its cronies to finance its politics, and crush the opposition as much as it can.

Then no one will remember Meral Abla's fancy sentences.

When she is defeated at the ballot box, the capital supporting the İYİ Party will no longer resist Erdoğan's gravitational pull and will quickly lean toward the AKP to get a share of the rent in the metropolitan cities.

The right-wing, conservative voters who make up a significant portion of the İYİ Party base will switch from being “Ablacıs” (supporters of the sister) to “Reiscis” (supporters of the chief) without wasting time, just to get their children jobs, to get their daughter or son transferred to their hometown, or to profit a little more from the zoning rent in their neighborhood.

One does not need to look at politics with a magnifying glass to see the signs of this.

Talking to half a dozen people who have voted for the İYİ Party to date is enough.

It is no secret that within the İYİ Party base, there are increasing grumbles from those saying, “The MHP members stand by Erdoğan and at least keep the soup boiling, while we have been left with nothing.”

“If we start from the sentence that human beings have one hundred percent mortality,” it would not be wrong to say that after a while, the İYİ Party could take the place of the MHP and return to its natural habitat by merging with the MHP.

Would someone then come out and ask, “Weren't we a ‘free’ and ‘independent’ party?”

This is the nature of right-wing politics in Turkey!

Finally, let us ask whether cooperation will emerge spontaneously at the ballot box. Such a possibility does not seem possible for now outside of Ankara, and let us put a period to our article by saying that Istanbul is on a knife's edge.