Erdoğan would want a dysfunctional coalition

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan replied to the news stories in the press claiming he would gain time for coalition negotiators by not assigning anyone to form the government before the election of the parliament presidential council by saying: “I’m sorry, I do not want to insult the deaf but the saying is that ‘the deaf person does not hear, but makes it up.’ This is what they are doing. I have no such thought.”

It is normal the president does not have such a thought in his mind because as a matter of fact the last thing the president would ever want is a “functional” coalition government. For this reason, he would not have an issue with them gaining time for coalition negotiations. Because the only thing President Erdoğan wants is to rule the country the way he knows.

This was why the “Turkish-style” presidential system was invented; this was why rallies were held in town squares; this was why the civilian constitution efforts were blocked in the previous parliamentary term. 

And now, we know him very well; he would insist to the end to realize what he has on his mind; he would be persistent.  

He indeed knows that this will not come true with a “snap election.” The best for him is the formation of a dysfunctional coalition government. He has many weapons to make this happen, all based on the constitution. 

These weapons include preventing the appointments of the coalition partners and vetoing the laws the coalition would want to put into effect. 

He would leave Turkey with a coalition that cannot manage the country and in the end the coalition would dissolve as a matter of course.

Right at that moment, we will enter an early election period.

He will again take to the town squares and seek ways to realize what he has on his mind with early elections by saying, “Look, you are now seeing that in this system coalitions are blocking Turkey. Authorize me and I will solve this problem.”

Not realizing the truth 

The Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Syrian policy has hit the wall once more with the repelling of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from Tal Abyad, right across from the Akçakale border crossing. 

However, it seem like our guys still continue to regard themselves as the prime minister and the foreign minister of Syria. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has evaluated the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK),  driving away ISIL from Tal Abyad with the help of coalition forces led by the United States, saying, “In Syria, while only one group is being supported, the elimination of all other groups is being sought. We will not allow this game.”

What the president defined as “all other groups” is predominantly made up of Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, etc. 

There are Islamists groups within the components of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) as well, and nobody would be surprised if they joined al-Nusra or ISIL overnight. 

The last thing the U.S.-led coalition forces would ever want is for these Islamist groups to gain forces and territory in Syria. 

And Erdoğan is now openly opting for the protection of these groups. 

He wants the extremist Islamic forces to maintain their existence, the one that he caused to inflate because of the miscalculation of “Bashar al-Assad in Syria will be toppled very soon.”

He is of course dreaming.

He said “we will not allow it.” I am really curious how he will not allow it. Will he make Turkey a side in the Syrian civil war? Will he support al-Qaeda and al-Nusra, which the coalition forces essentially want to destroy?