I cast my vote in Turkey’s recent presidential and parliamentary elections on 14 May, then again in the 28 May runoff.
Voter turnout was remarkably (and typically) high in both the first round (87 per cent) and the runoff (85 per cent). Turkey has had 70 years’ experience with elections, and people take seriously the exercise of this fundamental political right, but it is clear to independent observers that these elections were neither free nor fair.
Erdoğan ran a largely negative campaign using public coffers and the entire state media apparatus for his own propaganda, while censoring the opposition by jailing political rivals. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the opposition candidate, was barred from sending text messages to voters, while AKP ministers faced no such restrictions.
The election results suggest that millions are fine with the post-truth politics in Turkey. Nevertheless, we must question the zeitgeist and the moral legitimacy of wins secured through such campaigns, whether in Turkey, United States, Brazil or elsewhere.
The most important reason for doing this is that women’s rights activists, LGBTQI+ and young people felt fear of and anger at the political system that has long excluded them. Their demands for equal representation were not met by opposition parties either, still dominated by men, despite record numbers of women applying to become candidates for parliament. The exception was Yeşil Sol Party of the leftist opposition block, and it is entirely thanks to them that women’s representation in parliament increased from 17 to 20 per cent.
Women’s rights activists, comprising the main pillar of the broader social opposition, put their disillusionment aside. Demoralised by the initial results, but ever more determined to unseat Erdoğan, they worked hard to keep voter turnout high and ensure the safety of ballots. They knocked on doors to talk to women voters, distributed flyers on streets and campaigned on social media to mobilise voters.
I saw more excitement, anxiety and engagement in these elections than I had seen in any others in my life, including the memorable 2015 ones, but eight years later, the political picture is much bleaker.
On 14 May, Erdoğan’s AKP managed to gain almost half of the seats in parliament and without a doubt, Turkey now has the most right-wing and misogynist parliament in its 100-year history.
In addition, thanks to Erdoğan’s electoral alliance with them, two reactionary Islamist parties – HÜDA-PAR (the political extension of Turkey’s Hezbollah, responsible for the brutal torture and murder of Muslim feminist Konca Kuriş) and Yeniden Refah Party (of the Islamist National Outlook tradition) – are now represented in parliament. With a total of nine MPs, these staunchly anti-egalitarian and anti-secular parties have moved from the margins to the centre space of politics. Democratic forces in Turkey must take this threat seriously in order to counter it effectively.
These political groups have an authoritarian and socially reactionary vision which entails open discrimination and violence against women and LGBTQI+. They contest the principles of equality and secularism, justifying their positions by reference to emotionally laden notions such as ‘family values’ and ‘religious and cultural values’. HÜDA-PAR and YRP will be eager supporters when Erdoğan attempts to change Turkey’s constitution again.
HÜDA-PAR and YRP aim to repeal the national domestic violence law and will bring this issue to the fore as soon as possible. They plan to push for sex segregation in schools, workplaces and on public transport. They want to prevent ‘perversions such as drug addiction, deism, atheism, and homosexuality’. Having successfully attacked the Istanbul Convention, they now want Turkey to leave international human rights treaties such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Lanzarote Convention.
This means that the Turkish Civil Code, perhaps the most significant gain of the republican period, which rests not on Islamic law, but on the principle of equality between men and women in matters of inheritance, marriage, divorce and custody, will be among their first targets.
There is a silver lining in that, thanks to the nearly equal representation of women as candidates by the leftist bloc (especially the Yeşil Sol Party), Turkey’s new parliament includes avid supporters of women’s rights. Many are not just MPs who happen to be women but have long been engaged in women’s rights and labour activism. Having actively participated in the defence of the Istanbul Convention and the formulation of the Five Urgent Demands of the Women’s Platform for Equality, these women are the fierce advocates we need in Turkey’s parliament.
Erdoğan and the AKP may appear victorious now, but those who remember Konca Kuriş will retell and continue her struggle and show, time and time again, that they will not give up on their lives, rights or dreams.
Özlem Altıok is a Principal Lecturer holding a joint appointment with Women’s and Gender Studies and International Studies at the University of North Texas and the author of the chapter ‘From the Streets to Social Policy: How to end gender-based violence against women’ in the Global Agenda for Social Justice 2.
Global Agenda for Social Justice 2 edited by Glenn W. Muschert, Kristen M. Budd, Heather Dillaway, David C. Lane, Manjusha Nair and Jason A. Smith is available on the Bristol University Press website. Order here for £14.99. The chapter ‘From the Streets to Social Policy: How to end gender-based violence against women’ is available to buy on Bristol University Press Digital.
Follow Transforming Society so we can let you know when new articles publish.
The views and opinions expressed on this blog site are solely those of the original blog post authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the Bristol University Press and/or any/all contributors to this site.
Image credit: SOPA Images Limited via Alamy