Can't vice presidents be Bosniak or Laz?

Devlet Bahçeli's statement, "Let the vice presidents be Kurdish and Alevi," has shaken the agenda so much that it has been the only topic of conversation for two days.

When you first hear it, the question that comes to mind is, "Did Bahçeli really say this, or is there another Bahçeli?"

You spend 50 years in a country conducting politics based on "separatism," and then you turn around and say, "Let's give them two seats and bring peace." Is that not possible? It is. This is Turkey...

Who said what and who did what, right?

Bahçeli was initially angry at journalist İsmail Saymaz, who reported these words as insider information. But then, as with everything else, this issue suddenly normalized, and the DEM Party even raised the stakes.

DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan stole the spotlight from Bahçeli by saying, "Why shouldn't the President also be Kurdish? We are candidates to govern."

But the question is: Does the desired peace come by handing out seats?

Let's look at the world for a moment. Because in our country, when someone mentions "ethnic representation," the outcome is inevitably either an opening or a fragmentation. There is no middle ground. Yet, the issue is neither opening up nor closing down. The issue is knowing what, whom, and why space is being made.

WHICH COUNTRIES ARE GOVERNED BY ETHNIC-BASED POLITICS?

Take Burundi, for example. A country in the heart of Africa. After the Hutu and Tutsi tribes slaughtered each other for years, they said, "Let's share power." They divided parliamentary seats by number: 60% Hutu, 40% Tutsi. They even divided the military proportionally. What happened? A few years of stability, then they went at each other again in 2015. The seats remained, but the country fell apart. Now it is hard to even find it on a world map.

Look at Lebanon. Everything was designed for "inter-sectarian peace." They created a constitution stating the President would be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of Parliament a Shia. But the country reached such a state that today, no matter how many people you form a government with, someone from within inevitably says, "I'm out," and blocks the system. This system has become a producer of gridlock rather than peace.

Ethiopia... They established ethnic federalism. They said, "Let every ethnic group govern its own region." They gave authority, gave autonomy, and drew maps. Then those maps became minefields. The Tigray region said, "You gave us too little authority" and declared war on the central government. The bloodshed has not stopped yet.

So, what is the common feature of these countries?

Artificial borders left over from colonialism,
Ethnic and sectarian fractures,
Economic collapse,
And... the laziness of trying to solve "peace" only with seats.

Is it a coincidence that you cannot see a developed country among them, or are these countries still being used as colonies without anyone noticing?

Now let's return to Turkey.

In these lands, there are Kurds, Alevis, Circassians, Laz, Albanians, Pomaks, Bosniaks... The list is long.
Bahçeli's proposal reduces this list to only two identities: Kurdish and Alevi.
One must ask:
What about the others? Will they be told, "The seats are full, come back next week"?

The selection of these two identities is not a coincidence either. The Kurdish opening... the Alevi workshop... These are moves made in the past but left unfinished. Now, there seems to be a strategy like, "Let's make them vice presidents and win their hearts." But this move looks more like a strategic window dressing than being sincere.

This window dressing would be like approaching the unitary state structure with a match.

You may not like it, but Mustafa Kemal Atatürk established the Turkish identity precisely to protect this unitary state and tried to build this structure with the motto, "How happy is the one who says I am a Turk," rather than "How happy is the one who is a Turk." He embraced everyone who felt they belonged here.

Because there is no other land as rich as Anatolia.

With this logic, one shouldn't even hold elections. One person from every ethnic origin and every sect should be chosen to enter Parliament...

In other words, the founding leader had already thought of the most correct approach a hundred years ago and implemented the best model. He grasped the importance of being a nation.

We always see it in American movies; whether they are British, French, Arab, or East Asian, those who go to the USA become citizens by swearing on what they believe in court with these words: "I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law..."

I mean, if such ethnic politics were good, wouldn't the USA use it? Wouldn't imperial states accept these structures as a form of government instead of exporting them to countries they want to dismantle?

IS IT A GLOBAL PLAN?

Systems based on ethnic representation are usually divide-and-rule projects served by the West under the packaging of "minority rights."
We saw it in Iraq. First the Kurdistan Regional Government, then the Shia-Sunni divide, and finally, the map turned into fragmentation.
It is the same in Syria. The PYD was given status, Arabs were excluded, and sects were pitted against each other.
Turkey has spent 20 years watching this movie. Will it play the same one now?

Representation does not happen with a seat. It happens with sincerity. It happens with transparency.

If you really want to deliver the rights of Kurdish and Alevi citizens, instead of putting two names in the window:

Carry out structural reforms in education, faith, employment, and public representation.
Fill the substance of representation.
Bring an egalitarian understanding that encompasses all citizens, not just selected identities.

Otherwise, this business will turn around and end up as "a story about a seat" again.
And Turkey will watch the same movie once more, without making any progress.