The debate over past coups has once again topped the agenda of Turkey’s media and public opinion. The source of the debate is not a signal from the military. After all, as a result of steps toward civility and democratization in recent years, the military has withdrawn into its own mission area and is busy with cross-border operations.
The issue has been resurrected because of anti-democratic insinuations, pointed at the military, by some politicians from main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) circles and a former general.
This public sentiment is normal, as the wounds of the coup attempt on July 15, 2016 – in which 251 people were killed – are still fresh. However, the insistence of the CHP, which has failed to come to power through elections since Turkey shifted to a multi-party democratic regime, regarding this despicable political debate is a shameful and looming problem for Turkish democracy.
The CHP, the architect of the revolution in 1923, when Turkey switched from a monarchy to a modern republic, is indeed a military-civilian bureaucrat movement. However, it is described to be on the left side of the spectrum because of its position against Islam, which is the religion of almost every person in the country. In a universal sense, it does not have any characteristics that would require it to be considered on the left. It gets votes from the military-bureaucratic elite as well as from wealthy districts.
From 1923 to 1950, apart from the farce based on the principle of the secret counting of open votes in 1946, the CHP ruled the country as a single party without holding elections. In the first general and free elections in 1950, it lost power to the Democrat Party (DP), which received the support of the poor and the laborers.
While the CHP failed to defeat the DP in elections for a decade, the military overthrew the DP on May 27, 1960. The so-called left-wing CHP celebrated the coup, which it supported, as a holiday for years. However, as soon as the coup plotters withdrew, the people elected not the CHP, which they pointed out, but the Justice Party (AP), a continuation of the DP.
On March 12, 1971, the military staged a second coup, paving the way for the CHP to form a government. The result was the same. At the first opportunity, people brought the conservative Democrats to power once again.
The same situation occurred on Sept. 12, 1980, and on Feb. 28, 1997. The latest coup paved the way for Turkey to be ruled by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for 19 years.
Erdoğan, who hails from the political tradition of the DP, which was overthrown in 1960, is still the favorite candidate in the country.
As the CHP has failed to come to power even for a few years without military support since the introduction of democracy, even its voters and supporters have given up hope for the party.
Indeed, even during the period when it performed its best in 1970s, the party can only get half as many votes as the ruling party. "Without a natural disaster such as an earthquake, flood or forest fire, CHP cannot defeat Erdoğan." This much-debated remark by a CHP-supporter journalist in recent days is the reflection of this desperation.
However, the CHP still does not dare to confront the structural reason why people do not vote them into power. Although it says, "of course, we are against coups," because the alternative would be a shame in this age, it cannot escape the comfort of the possibility that the military takes it upon itself to bring it to power.
I would say it is a great disgrace that the Socialist International has accepted a party that has indexed its perspective of power to the military as a member, but, I swallow my words given that when it comes to internationalism and the left now, what comes to mind are those like French President Emmanuel Macron, who welcomes Egypt’s coup-plotter Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi at the gate of the Elysee Palace.