The Constitutional Court's latest verdict showed that 10 out 11 judges believe that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has become a focus of anti-secular activities.But who took this seriously? Even the judges themselves do not believe their verdict and thus avoided closing the party. If we do not have an active, credible and popularly supported leftist party, the bureaucracy will be more bogged down by sophisticated socio-political realities as they are unable to renew themselves in tune with time and society. But is the prospect of such a leftist party a plausible one?
This is a difficult question. The left in Turkey unfortunately lacks credibility and, thus, popularity. Unless they analyze the root causes of this, leftist ideology will popularly continue to be hijacked by the nationalist Republican People's Party (CHP), which is everything but leftist. The main problem of the left in Turkey is that they do not speak the same language as the people. People do not understand what leftist parties stand for. We do not hear strong voices from leftist parties against social injustices, the terrible condition of the distribution of wealth, the bureaucratic oligarchy's illegitimate economic privileges and İstanbul big business' close relations with the state. Moreover, leftist parties in Turkey are not known as great supporters of freedoms, democracy, transparency and international standards. They apply double standards when it comes to the freedoms of others. Their language is full of anti-imperialist rhetoric, but this language is dated. In this age, the issues are more complicated and leftists could only challenge these by new readings and interpretations of Marx and other leftist theoreticians. Many leftists could not even arrive at the stage of social democracy, despite their rhetoric. Many of them dream of top-down revolutions. The ones who speak about the virtues of democracy fail democratic tests when critical issues arise.
The mindset and language of many Turkish leftists are also poisoned with Kemalism and/or laicism. They do not want to accept that if Mustafa Kemal Atatürk were a leftist, he was a postmodern everything. Leftists should first of all free themselves from the chains of Kemalism, which can only attract a maximum of 20 percent of the vote, a figure sure to go down with increased democracy in the country. The laicism issue is much more important as far as the ill fate of the leftists is concerned. Our leftists have learned by heart that "religion is the opium of the masses." This has legitimized them to stay away from religion, accepting religion's importance in people's lives and trying to understand the dynamics within the society. The most prominent characteristic of Turkish leftists is their aggressive anti-religious stance. They do not have to be pro-religion, but their discourse could have been more balanced, and a critical approach to religion or to its instrumental use in politics could have a place among many other important leftist arguments. But our leftists preferred to focus on anti-religious arguments, paving the way for an overwhelming majority of people perceiving the leftists as infidels and enemies of people's values. Our leftists have also chosen to stay ignorant of secularism. Ninety-five percent of the Turkish population does not have a problem with secularism as long as it is not applied in an aggressively anti-religious manner. The Ottomans had a secular state system -- even more secular than today's Turkey -- but you can discuss these issues intellectually neither with leftists nor with Kemalists. They become extremely emotional on these issues and start yelling instead of talking. And unfortunately even the Western media continue to think that the fight in Turkey is between pro-secularists and pro-Islamists. Ignorance is not only bliss, it is also universal.
