Can Turkey’s Ruling Party Fix Its Erdogan Problem?

The glowing reputation Turkey’s ruling party built early in its decade-plus in power seemed a distant memory on Sunday as voters punished it at the polls.

Battered after losing its parliamentary majority for the first time since taking control of the country in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is catching its breath — and it has the chance to take a fresh look at why its name has lost its shine to many Turks.

The AKP was long heralded as a liberalizing party that built up Turkey’s middle class and pushed for better democracy. But it’s the darker terms increasingly leveled at it that drove angry voters to the polls: cronyism, corruption and authoritarianism. All are tied to the man who towers over the party and over Turkey’s political scene, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the former prime minister and current president.

It was Erdogan who assumed de facto powers after being elected to what is meant to be a largely ceremonial post last year — and Erdogan who vowed to cement them, with constitutional changes, if his party won enough seats in Sunday’s vote.

It is also Erdogan who sits at the center of a lingering corruption scandal; periodically orders Twitter to be blocked; threatens members of the media; and has his lawyer sue citizens over insults. But he is so powerful within the AKP that it has seemed unlikely for the party to rein him in.
After voters sent a clear rebuke on Sunday, though, some Turkish political observers wonder if that might change.

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“For the democratic-leaning members of the AKP, this gives them an opportunity to challenge the rising authoritarianism, the use of hate speech and conspiracy theories, and the undemocratic turn the party has taken,” said Aykan Erdemir, a former parliamentarian for the Republican People’s Party, an AKP rival. “Now I think there is an opportunity for them to raise their legitimate concerns — and finally, there might be some ears within the AKP that might hear them.”

“There could be a challenge not only to Erdogan’s control, but also to the AKP’s tactics,” said Erdemir, a non-resident fellow at the Foundation for Defense for Democracies in Washington, DC.

“Or this might all be wishful thinking. We’ll see,” he added.

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