Mehmet Özay 23.06.2018
As Turkey goes to the polls tomorrow, June 24th, it is observed that the system change is being put forward as a reflection of the changes emerging in social and global conditions. This process is characterized by both the demanders of system change and the political and social circles that object to it.
Although the attitude of different segments of the social structure towards this political development is perceived as a complexity, it can be said that this corresponds to a normal process when the pluralism of the social structure is remembered. However, the fact that this situation that has emerged in Turkey's domestic politics has its own significance in different geographies.
Internationalizing Turkish politics
And this situation, i.e. the reflection of the changes in Turkish politics in the international arena, is becoming more and more evident in the current period. Of course, when I say international interest in Turkish politics and political change, I am referring to a situation that goes beyond the efforts of political elites and policymakers in Turkey and their social counterparts.
This gives a clue as to where the actors of Turkish politics stand in the current electoral environment, not only in the national political arena, but also in the context of international public opinion. I will illustrate what I mean by this with a brief comparison between the structures that have been actors in the political arena in the recent past and where they stand today.
First of all, it must be said that this phase is undoubtedly quite different from, for example, the closed Turkey of the Cold War period and the closed Turkish politics. In this sense, the internationalization of Turkish politics, which we have been arguing for, stands out as a development and value in itself. This phenomenon reveals a characteristic of Turkish national politics that extends beyond the Turkish politician and the Turkish voter and in this sense differentiates it from other similar societies.
Left intelligentsia
It is possible to make sense of what this change corresponds to in Turkey by looking at the two structures that have brought themselves to the agenda as actors through various means in the recent past, albeit perhaps briefly.
From here we can go back to the recent past and look at the situation of the left intelligentsia, which considers itself international and is dependent on foreign countries for its ideological discourse and the political channels it relies on. For a while, this structure was attempting to become a political elite by accrediting itself to the international 'international'. And this approach was coming to the agenda as a kind of social demand, partly with the contributions of sections of its social base in Turkey and some circles that were trying to integrate into it in one way or another.
At this point, it must be said that the left intelligentsia's assertion of itself in the 'international' context is its movement in the object position as a type of articulation rather than subjectivity. Thus, rather than a process of agency, the left intelligentsia has had an international context that is alien to what is going on and far from producing a value of its own, especially limited to a literacy and understanding effort from outside.
As a result, it has not been possible for these circles to bring about a sustainable political and social change in this country, nor has it been possible for them to seek political and social convergence in geographies close and friendly to this country. The role of this process in eventually causing this structure to shrink over time, to be exposed to fractures and to give up its claims should not be ignored.
Liberalism and the right based on pragmatism
Another structure that can be noted in this context is the liberal/right stance. This social structure, which finds its roots in the transformation from rural to urban society and corresponds to the elements of social mobilization experienced through educational opportunities, also had a tendency to adapt itself to the changes in the world, especially in the context of globalization, which came to the fore with neo-liberalization.
It was witnessed that the social counterpart of the liberal/right-wing discourse did not have a comprehensive and sustainable thought-based demand, but rather viewed society and politics with materialistic, self-interested and pragmatist orientations. In the process of these circles becoming a government, the chain of material and non-material corruption by themselves and the social circles that followed them has witnessed that this formation has not added any value to the country and society we are in, and beyond that, it has also turned out to be far from any value and contribution to the geographies close to Turkey.
In today's political arena and the way of doing politics, there is a situation that corresponds to a structure with different roots and orientations, apart from these two orientations briefly mentioned above. This structure has a corresponding social response as much as the efforts of its actors to assert themselves. To put it more precisely, it is possible to speak of a situation that can be called dualism that feeds each other.
Factor(s) globalizing Turkish politics
Beyond this, we can claim that this structure has gained visibility through a political and social counterpart that stands out with some historical, religious and spiritual values attributed to it. It is a fact that this claim is not a mere abstract situation, on the contrary, it corresponds to a concrete counterpart.
At this point, for example, apart from some other societies, the interest and relevance of Turkish politics in Southeast Asian societies, especially in the wider Malay world, which constitute our area of interest, that is, the fact that there is a structuring outside the interventions of politicians in Turkey and the social segments surrounding these politicians, points to a situation in itself.
In this context, in a certain geography, say in Turkey, there is the existence of external civil circles that act outside of politics and political circles with a conscious intention to articulate/involve themselves in politics and political circles. There is no doubt that this external action, on the one hand, brings societies in different geographies closer to each other, but on the other hand, and perhaps even more than that, it plays a role that pushes the domestic political actor and this political structure towards globalization.
Even if it is assumed to be a thing of the past to some extent, this is undoubtedly one of the most important areas in which it differs and differentiates from the other two structures, which are seen to continue to exist within the framework of their existing examples even in today's political environment.
The political structure corresponding to the third of the above representations, which represents the tendency of the way of doing politics to spread from local to regional to global, emerges as a phenomenon of a global actor that will respond to the demands in different geographies. This situation transforms the elections in Turkey from a domestic political issue into a global political act that is carefully monitored by societies in different geographies.
English and Indonesian versions translated with DeepL AI
