May it be auspicious

We have left yet another general election behind us. Since voting is still under way as these lines are being written, I cannot offer an assessment of the results, but whatever the results may be, may they be auspicious for our country, our nation, the Islamic world and all of humanity.

The fact is that Turkey's elections are no longer elections that concern only the people of Turkey. Perhaps in a globalizing world the elections of all countries concern other peoples and countries more than their own. But this general observation carries a far more particular weight when it comes to Turkey. There are people in other countries who follow the outcome of these elections much more closely than the average person in Turkey does.

The oppressed peoples of the Islamic world, especially the peoples of Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Myanmar, Palestine and the Balkans, are listening intently, with their ears pricked, for the results of these elections. They know that the outcome concerns them deeply, because they have witnessed what kind of a break the century-long bad fortune of Muslim peoples experienced during the period of AK Parti rule in Turkey.

It was not only the Islamic world but also the Western world that took a close interest in the outcome of the elections. In particular, some media organizations from the Western world became a partner in the surprisingly large anti-AK Parti coalition that formed in Turkey. This coalition is perhaps formed in one way or another at every election, but without doubt this time it included a great many partners who had never joined before, or at least had never joined openly.

This partnership had in fact begun with the Gezi incident, and its first target was the March 30 local elections, then the presidential elections, and after that the general elections. In between they also added the December 17 judicial coup attempt. All the moves made so far have come to nothing.

The attack that began with the Gezi incident started simultaneously with the movement called "tamarrud" (rebellion) in Egypt, and in terms of style it followed very similar steps. The movement that was repelled in Turkey, unfortunately, succeeded in Egypt, and what the alternatives were to the legitimate rulers who were overthrown by a military coup on the grounds that they had become authoritarian and had not shared power has been seen with full certainty.

The real problem of those who criticize Erdoğan for becoming authoritarian and for concentrating power in his own hands alone was never anything other than the fact that Erdoğan did not share with them the authority he had received from the people, and did not even hand it to them on a platter. Because Erdoğan did not back down before the parallels who were trying to take over the government completely with all its institutions, he ended up pushing them, too, into the ranks of his opponents. In this election Turkey witnessed the alliance formed against the AK Parti by gathering into a single basket all the skills of its centers of power, each of which has a capacity for intrigue of its own. These centers, which under normal circumstances also compete with one another, stopped bothering one another in the face of the AK Parti. In a sense, this alliance can also be counted as a success for the AK Parti.

The legitimacy that the HDP gained within this electoral alliance did not, of course, have the effect of evolving it in any way toward a more democratic, more political line. The role assigned to the HDP in this game was never such a role to begin with. For in this game its weapon was needed once again, which is why we never heard even a piece of advice, a publication or a statement from those competing to give the AK Parti lessons in democracy urging the HDP not to look to the gun for help. Its relationship with weapons was strangely treated as almost normal. However, as the model that the HDP has put forward on armed politics is bound to be questioned and rejected more and more in the process of democratization, the records of those who gave it this premium in this period will also be remembered. In any case, we have lived through an election that everyone will remember, from many angles, as a lesson.

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Turkey enjoys the advantage of having held free elections since 1950. Even in the worst coup periods, perhaps with the exception of the 1982 constitutional referendum, elections have generally played their role as processes in which the people's word prevailed. When we look at the countries around us, we understand much better that this is a considerable blessing.

The prime minister of the Syrian Interim Government said in a speech in Siirt that he had reached the age of 50 and had never experienced an election in his own country. Yet he said that, thanks to these elections, Turkey had set an example of taking its people seriously with all of their components, and that this was a great blessing.

Whatever the election results may be, they offer important opportunities for Turkey to renew itself and for new policies to be determined with the approval, support and guidance of the people. Ultimately, they are opportunities in which social tensions and debates are resolved, at least for a while, under the arbitration of the people.

Whatever happens, may the election results be auspicious for our country, our nation, the Islamic world and the whole Islamic world.