The ruling party's strategic mistake

Cafer Solgun
...
After the 2011 general elections, the ruling party started to act as if that much was enough for democracy. It abandoned the initiatives it had launched. It never successfully completed any initiative. It labeled its third governmental term as a period of "mastery" and bid farewell to people's expectations of democracy, reforms, peace and settlement. It severed its ties with social and political groups that lent support to democratization. Aziz Babuşçu, chairman of İstanbul branch of the AK Party, stated this fact when he said, "We no longer need the support of anyone."

And the ruling party started to identify itself with the state. It thought the Hizmet movement was the only obstacle in its path, and it started on a course that would make Turkey lose all of its democratic achievements.

But the deep state, as a mentality, is still alive, and the responsibilities regarding confrontation with the past are still here. The AK Party will certainly pay the price of this strategic mistake, and at the same time, make us pay it as well.

Excerpted from the author's column published on Today's Zaman, 10 February 2014, Monday