Why does the AK Party have no rivals?

Turkey is getting closer to the end of a turning point of three successive elections. Despite all the efforts to obstruct the government and the charges of corruption and authoritarianism directed at it, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) won the last local elections with the highest vote rate recorded in local elections so far. Afterward, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected president with nearly 52 percent of the popular vote in the first round of voting. The result was influenced by the fact that the charges against the party did not convince the party's conservative base, which means that the endeavors to overthrow the AK Party government were explicit enough for this group. If it wins the upcoming general elections that are to be held in early June, the AK Party will go through a political period in which no election will be held for four years and a new constitution, or maybe even a new political system, will be introduced during this period. If we assume that the performance the ruling party has displayed so far will continue without interval, we can safely assert that the AK Party will maintain its rule at least for 10 more years.

While analyzing the general framework, it would be ridiculous to argue that the AK Party government has not ever engaged in a wrong deed. Just like every other government, the AK Party has made a lot of mistakes and has sometimes taken steps obstructing democratic progress. The opposition naturally highlights these points and tries its best to undermine the AK Party. But still, the voting rate for the AK Party has not declined. It should also be noted that the party's voting rate was not at this level in the beginning. If it had been as high from the very beginning we could argue that the Islamic conservatives of Turkey act as a bloc and adopt an ideological stance. However, the voting rate for the AK Party has gradually increased over the years and today, the rate of those appreciating the government's policies is 10 percent more than the rate of those voting for the party. In other words, the rate of people appreciating the AK Party is constantly increasing despite all the faults of the party.

This observation could constitute a critical point data for the opposition since it suggests that only repeating the faults of the AK Party in order to "defeat" it would not be enough on its own. Of course the faults should be criticized, but two points should be taken into consideration while doing this. First, criticism should be convincing, which requires the opposition to be fair and cover all the causes and details. Otherwise, criticism by the opposition might be perceived as "malevolent" or "manipulative." Second, and more importantly, the opposition must present a certain image of Turkey and its future to society by leaving aside its criticism of the AK Party.

This shortcoming of the opposition causes the AK Party to diverge from the truth more easily. In a case when the opposition cannot form an effective alternative, it is not surprising for the government not to behave too sensitively regarding its own acts. Also, every time the AK Party makes a mistake, it assumes that the opposition will also make a mistake in terms of political style, and it always turns out to be right. Thus, the AK Party is placed in its current "dominant party" position. But it is obvious that the opposition has a great role in the "dominance" of the AK Party.

The cause of this asymmetrical situation is not only the difference of political calibers. A historical process and psychological dimensions lie behind it. Since the secular stratum laid the burden on the army and judiciary for decades, they are not accustomed to doing politics. For this reason, they assume that the AK Party will vanish spontaneously only because it has made a few mistakes. However, the AK Party also does a lot of things right, and to be honest, these outweigh its faults. Besides, it is possible to explain the causes of its faults to the public, and the AK Party is able to persuade its ever-expanding base of these causes.

The governments of the secular stratum, however, made many severe structural mistakes for a long time in the past. The opposition should first go over its past and be self-critical. Without this, an image of the future cannot be created. The opposition limits itself to a short-sighted perspective and confuses on harassing the ruling party with politics. This is what makes the AK Party unrivalled.