Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s victory is an explicit declaration of the birth of a new Türkiye, which is succeeding the modern Türkiye, the credit of which is attributed to Kemal Ataturk. This is because of the quiet transformation or change took place in stages within the political system, which ended with its modification to the presidential system with a comfortable parliamentary majority. This will accelerate the announcement of Türkiye’s exit from the mantle of Kemal Ataturk. It can be said with some reservations that Erdoğan’s ultimate approach and goal aims to completely remove the mantle which Türkiye wore at the beginning of the 20th century.
This cloak was protected by the army, the judiciary, and the ideological political forces associated with it. It exaggerated the sanctification of the foundations on which Ataturk’s Türkiye was built. It may also not be different in visions of Turkish society, its politics, and its symbols. But the changes in dynamics, which the Turkish society has gone through over the past two decades and which had also experienced Adnan Menderes and Necmettin Erbakan, help the current elite create the awareness and move for a new formation.
Türkiye is now one of the candles which lit up the world of the East. It was earlier a field for external interference, and a symbol of backwardness and distance from the political and cultural spirit of the age. Now, Türkiye is the best expression of the political spirit and values of the era, which will make it move quickly to fortify its position in the world.
[by Yahya Alam in Aljazeera]