Sezai Temelli
“When we look at the debates around alliances and election oriented politics, it is possible to say that the big picture cannot be seen by the opposition in Turkey. The opposition must urgently get rid of this attitude if it aims to produce genuine solutions, starting with the solution to the Kurdish question.” writes academician and former HDP co-Chair Sezai Temelli for Yeni Ozgur Politika.
Whilst the chaotic political atmosphere, dominated by uncertainty, multiple crises, war and violence continues to spread across a wide hinterland from the Middle East to the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and the Black Sea, the rest of the world is also open to and dependent on the effects of this situation. Although the development of China-US relations in the Pacific line has important effects, there is still no change in the region that determines global politics.
This geography is a geography where the world capitalist system and the sovereign nation-state system has been reproduced for almost the last two centuries. The two pillars of capitalist modernity, capitalist production, and the nation-state, have solved most of their problems in this hinterland in the past. Especially in the cold war period is important in this respect. The deep crisis experienced today is a crisis that emerged as a result of the unsustainability of capitalism and the nation-state, and the solutions used in the past can not be used anymore.
To be able to break free from this chaotic political atmosphere, we have to admit its unsustainability. But this is of course not enough, we need to talk about how we can change it and take action for it. Today, in global politics, as seen in our politics in Turkey too, the authorities still believe in the sustainability of the system and they are only able to come up with palliative solutions focused on the problems created by the pandemic.
The longing for the cold war era, the respect to the regimes that existed before the second world war shows us that there is a deep crisis in production and governance.
The current government in Turkey always find a way to take advantage of the chaotic political atmosphere. It works hard to re-produce this chaos within the country. The survival of power depends on the continuation of this chaos.
Although the effort to shape domestic and foreign politics like that creates social destruction in many ways, this is not a matter of concern for the government, it is accepted as almost a positive thing.
A radical transformation which could occur with regards to the Middle East or to domestic politics in Turkey would have the power to trigger a fundamental change in the dynamics of global politics. The government in Turkey acts accordingly. Yet Turkey is the weakest chain of the system.
The problem is that the opposition groups in Turkey do not act in awareness of these facts. They are either stuck in the past or repeat the same old discourses that only works for the restoration of the system.
When we look at debates about alliances and election-oriented politics, it is possible to say that the big picture cannot be seen by the opposition in Turkey. The opposition must urgently get rid of this attitude if it aims to produce genuine solutions, starting with the solution to the Kurdish question.
“Third Way” politics is pointing in the right way for global politics, domestic politics, and especially politics regarding the Middle East. The Third Way strategy is a guide for a great transformation. It is against capitalist production and nation-state management and instead prioritises autonomous-democratic governance. Instead of competition, it is based on solidarity and sharing. It is a very strong thesis and its suggestions can overcome the ongoing crisis of the system.
It is necessary to always express what kind of politics this thesis puts forward. We need to protect it and free it from the current politics discourse that is stuck in the election-alliance mode. This must be our most important responsibility if we want to build a better future.
Let’s end with Zizek; “It is time to move forward with an understanding of democracy that is different from bourgeois democracy. Democracy has to be re-invented.”
