News Analysis: Turkey's politics face struggling interim rule

Turkish domestic and foreign politics have been crumbling while the country is heading towards a snap election on November, analysts said.

Political analysts expressed their concerns to Xinhua over the deteriorated political conditions and its collapsed foreign policy in the Middle East.

"The political depression in Turkey has been continuing since long time. The country has lost its tradition of being a state of law and forgot the meaning of the 'rule of law'," said Ersin Kalaycioglu, political analyst and academician at Sabanci University.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently declared that Turkey is set for a snap election on Nov. 1 as the 40-day-long coalition talks between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and opposition party Republican People's Party (CHP) failed.

According to the normal practices, if the biggest party fails to form a government, the president is supposed to give the mandate to the second biggest party of the parliament.

However, Erdogan, who has organic bonds with the AKP, preferred to go to the polls for the snap election six months later of the June 7 election without giving the mandate to CHP.

Analysts described the move as a political strategy of Erdogan, who wants the victory of the AKP to form a one-party government.

"The president's attitude, after the election has created a problem of constitutionalism which happens for the first time in the history of Turkish republic," Kalaycioglu said.

He argued that the AKP and the president are in fact appealed the voters to vote again, "this time is in favor of the AKP."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, referring to the criticists, said that the AKP did its best to remain within the context of constitution in applying the rules of constitution.

"I did whatever the constitution dictates. To appoint CHP's leader to form a coalition government was the president's own appraisal," he said.

According to Kalaycioglu, the main solution for the dead-end in Turkey's politics is the formation of a coalition government.

"If Turkish voters would punish the AKP during the snap election and if the AKP would accept its role in the deteriorated conditions of Turkey, only after then Turkey would be back on track of democracy," he added.

Another one-party AKP government wouldn't save Turkey from the political and economic depression, he said.

Turkey's renascent war with outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) has also been considered as a hindering element at the Turkish politics.

Turkish government, right after the election, has declared war against terrorism which comprehends the PKK and Islamic State (IS).

With the military operations against PKK's targets, AKP has officially ended two years old peace process that has been conducted with pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) and imprisoned leader of PKK, Abdullah Ocalan to end 30 years of war.

Since then, the PKK militants have been increasingly attacking Turkish military bases. During the last 40 days, 42 Turkish security forces have been killed, mostly in southeastern part of Turkey.

Analysts argued that the AKP has been trying to gain votes over the civil war by attracting the nationalists' votes.

Hakan Bayrakci, political consulter and head of Sonar research center, said that the AKP has the chance to establish one-party government as long as the terrorism continues.

According to Sonar's latest survey, the AKP has increased its vote more than one point. "It is very obvious that the terrorism is going to continue at the same pace. It would be wrong to expect that the vote for the AKP to diminish as it has been following a more nationalist policy," he said.

However, Kalaycioglu argued that in the snap election, the AKP would neither get the Turkish nationalists nor Kurdish votes after the broken peace process. "There is no Kurd left who could possibly vote for AKP," he said.

Bayrakci expressed his optimism for the future, saying that Turkey's state tradition is deep-rooted and the country wouldn't be dragged towards an adventure.

"After the election, whatever the result would be, a coalition or a one party government, serious measures will be taken to rejuvenate the peace process," he said.

As to the foreign policy, Kalaycioglu said Turkey's foreign politics, especially the one in the Middle East, has also collapsed.

Turkey tried to conduct a policy of being a soft power in the region and accepted a role of arbitrator with a shuttle diplomacy in solving Syrian conflicts.

"But now Turkey has no policy at all. Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East has literally collapsed. Turkey became one of the sides in Syria and lost its objectivity," he said.

Erdogan and the AKP have long been insisting that the only solution in Syria could be possible only after the toppling down of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

According to him, the solution lies in the formation of a coalition government, which wouldn't include AKP.

"This new government would re-design Turkey's domestic and foreign policies. This is the only solution to ameliorate Turkey's politics and its reputation," he said. Endit