TURKEY tr-politics

Young party seeks new perspective for Turkish politics

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News | 12/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | ÖZGÜR ÖĞRET

Calling for a more independent foreign policy, greater inclusion and a more just distribution of wealth, the newly founded People’s Voice Party, or HSP, met on Saturday to elect 60 party executives.

Calling for a more independent foreign policy, greater inclusion and a more just distribution of wealth, the newly founded People’s Voice Party, or HSP, met in Ankara on Saturday to elect 60 party executives.

Members of the HSP, who refer to their party as the HAS Party, expressed both their hopes for bringing about a change in Turkish politics and concerns about how that can be accomplished.

Some members who spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review said they feared party leader Numan Kurtulmuş’ lack of an authoritarian mentality could be a disadvantage when competing with opposing parties they said are “ruled with iron fists.” The same people were also critical of Kurtulmuş for “not coming down hard on the prime minister.” Others, however, said what the HSP is trying to accomplish is to move politics to a level higher than screaming matches between party leaders.

Though the media has speculated about the HSP creating alliances with other parties in the run-up to the 2011 general elections, members of the new party said that would be impossible. “We are here to offer something new; an electoral alliance with any party would send the wrong message,” one said.

Another major focus of the party has been opening its arms to people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, including atheists, but this diversity was not reflected in the number of women elected Saturday to the party’s highest ranks. Having just two women among the 60 elected executives is a “coincidence,” Mehmet Bekaroğlu, the HSP’s deputy leader responsible for human rights, told the Daily News, adding that they “intend to have more women active within the party.”

Though the HSP was born when former Saadet (Felicity) Party leader Kurtulmuş challenged the conservative party’s founder, Necmettin Erbakan, the new party is a coalition of people from different backgrounds, including leftists, nationalists and conservatives, united around the idea of bringing a new mentality to Turkish politics.

[HH] Democracy starts within the party’s body

For Kurtulmuş, this new mentality must include an increase in internal democracy, meaning all party leaders must be elected by the members instead of selected by the leader. “A party that does not let the people elect their deputies cannot engage in a democratic struggle,” Kurtulmuş told the Daily News. He believes the Law on Political Parties and the Election Law require changes, but said there is no need to wait for that, or even to change the bylaws, to take the necessary steps.

“Why should [the party center] determine the mayor for Siirt, Erzincan, or, let’s say, the Bağcılar district of Ankara?” the HSP chief asked.

The HSP is working on a system in which even its leader would be elected by party members, not delegates, something Kurtulmuş defines as “active membership,” saying: “People who carry the burdens of the party, those who generate funds, attend gatherings and training sessions, should also take an active role in the decision-making process.”

[HH] The ‘Muslim left’ and the ‘National View’

The new party does not accept the label of the “Muslim left,” believing this is a definition their opponents are promoting to create confusion and manipulate the electorate. “Islam is a religion, it is wrong to put political terms before or after the name of a religion,” Kurtulmuş said.

Such an approach also limits the party’s potential, according to Bekaroğlu. “The left has been downgraded to [fighting for] the right to drink beer and lifestyle [issues] thanks to the wrongs of the social democrats. I am sorry for that,” he said. “We have some basic arguments; people look at them and ask, ‘Are these people leftists?’” The deputy leader listed these arguments as libertarianism, anti-imperialism and strengthening society and individuals. According to Bekaroğlu, the left in Turkey always spoke about society but prioritized the state, as the right did with the individual and capital, and that is why the HSP does not want to be labeled as either left or right.

Kurtulmuş said “every nation has a ‘national view’; a common factor between everyone including not only politics but art, literature, folklore and the like.” HAS is not the categorical enemy of any country, nation, area or religion, according to the leader. The only enemy is “tyranny,” Kurtulmuş said, which he defined as imperialism. Foreign relations with the EU, NATO or OECD will be determined according to the principle of Turkey being treated “just and as an equal,” he said. HAS is against Turkey being kept waiting at the EU’s door for decades or the burdens of NATO being brought upon Turkey while the benefits go to others, he said.

[HH] Economy and military affairs

Kurtulmuş said although Turkey’s economy grew in the last decade, it happened alongside increasing debt. The national gross product has increased under the current administration, but the national debt grew even more, he said. “There is no manufacturing, no sharing and no fairness in the distribution of income.”

“The economic development is based on the flow of hot money due to high rates of real interest,” he said. “The representatives and partners of international capital groups and exporters benefit from the stable foreign currency rate and the value of Turkish Lira, while the people lose.”

Kurtulmuş said he strongly disagreed with the opinion that the military’s oppression of politics has ended. “Putting a few generals on trial is not sufficient for such a claim to be made while institutes like the National Security Council and the military judiciary remain.”

Kurtulmuş said he is against the missile shield and suggested the idea should be taken to a countrywide referendum. “The ruling government is so proud to be in the shadow of NATO. But in how many NATO countries is the General Staff not aligned under the Defense Ministry?”