Boris Johnson became the new prime minister by receiving 92,153 votes in an election where members of his party participated via mail. His rival, Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, was only able to get 46,656 votes. First, it would be right to celebrate the winner of this election: Boris Johnson. By becoming the new head of his party in the hard times the U.K. is going through, he became the prime minister of his country.
Not only the party members that elected him are happy but also the British voters that sympathize with him. The residents of Kalfat in one of Turkey's smaller provinces, Çankırı, also celebrated this election victory with great enthusiasm.
The residents of Kalfat really love Boris Johnson. Of course, people will ask: "What is the relationship between Kalfat and London's old mayor and Britain's new Prime Minister Boris Johnson?" People might also ask "Where does Kalfat's interest in British politics come from?" Let us clear things up. The village of Kalfat never suffered from British colonialism. The people of Kalfat never lived under British rule. To the contrary, after living the pride of the Ottoman Empire period, they are also proud of living on the last remaining independent Ottoman lands where Turkey's Independence War was prepared. Residents of Kalfat, citizens of Turkey that won a heroic war of independence against countries that occupied Anatolia and Istanbul (Britain among them) have no inclination toward British politics. They are happy because one of their relatives became successful. Since Turkish people value familial bonds highly, everyone would be happy if a relative is successful whether it is a distant relative or a close one. The people of Kalfat are happy for this reason. Britain's new prime minister, the 55-year-old Johnson, is the son of Stanley Johnson who was the grandchild of Ottoman Internal Affairs Minister Ali Kemal Beg. Damat Ferit Pasha, the government's Education and Internal Affairs minister and Ali Kemal's father, Master Hacı Ahmet Rıza, were born in Kalfat village in Çankırı in 1813. Thus, by looking at Boris Johnson's family tree on his father's side we see that he is the descendent of a grandchild of a family from Kalfat. For the people of Kalfat, he is from that village as well.
Of course, this is the tabloid part of this matter. But it makes the people of Kalfat justifiably happy. It is a good event. However, if we return to Boris Johnson and Britain, his work is cut out for him.
We celebrate because he reached his goal. Boris Johnson wanted to be the prime minister of Britain and worked hard for this. His goal was "Downing Street." Now he is there!
The previous premier, Theresa May, left him a great problem: Brexit. In reality, Boris Johnson was one of the leading British politicians that caused the Brexit decision to be made.
Thus, he has great sympathy from U.S. President Donald Trump. But the real matter for wonder is how Boris Johnson is going to keep his word of "an end" with the EU "against all costs" that he was promising before he was elected.
If he attempts to have a Brexit "against all costs" and "immediately" without a deal, he does not have the majority in Parliament for a decision like this. In addition, even if he had the majority, a "no-deal Brexit" under these circumstances means great chaos for Britain in economic and social terms. Or if he attempts to change the deal with the EU that was accepted by May it is almost impossible for him to find any support from the EU side.
If he were to make a 180-degree turn and make an attempt in Brussels to extend the deal that ends on Oct. 31, he will take all of his party members on.
As a result of this chaotic situation, how will he handle the Scottish, as the majority want to remain EU members? In the same chaos, how will he prevent the Northern Ireland problem? Keeping his country together and peaceful seems to be the hardest trial for Boris Johnson. The one thing we are sure is that the people of Kalfat will always be behind him and support him no matter what their grandchild Boris does.