Oktay Eksi: So what is this argument really about?...

It is one of our favorite things, to invent a problem, and then waste a lot of time worrying about it...First, we began with the question "Can the spouse of a President of the Turkish Republic wear a turban?" Then we said, "Since there is a big chance Tayyip Erdogan will be elected president, let's move the general elections forward, and leave the electing of a president to the next parliament." Now everyone is involved in the controversy. And no one is controlling what comes out of their mouth. Someone from the administration has even come out and invited the opposition party to get out of the parliament. If he had paid attention to what he was saying, he would realize that that his own administration's legitimacy is grounded in the presence of the opposition in the parliament. And then he probably wouldn't have said those words. Of course, those on the other side are really no better...One of the big mouths on that side has said "The AKP's remaining goal is to seat a mullah like themselves in the presidential armchair." And what would you say if the Prime Minister answered the opposition party using expressions similar to what they use, like "Know this!" or "Let them know it this way!"?Anyway, there really are two huge years in front of us before the elections for the presidency. Over that time, enough water to fill an ocean will run under our bridges. So in that case, what is this fight all about anyway? We can perhaps find the answer in a speech given by AKP Istanbul Regional leader Dr. Mehmet Muezzinoglu at the Green Park Hotel on June 4 of this year. In it, Muessinoglu says that the current AKP administration does not find their power in local government enough, but that they need to include the presidency and certain levels of bureaucracy in their hands. Neither do they hide their intentions of taking control of YOK (the Turkish Board of Higher Education) and the RTUK (the Turkish Board of Radio and Television Broadcasting).  Of course, if you start to go on about "bringing Cankaya under control," or anything else which reminds people of the Necmettin Erbakan period, people will misunderstand you. And, as Erkan Mumcu has pointed out, the whole argument becomes foolish. So let's sit in and talk sensibly:  Which means, let's talk law and rules, and about Recep Tayyip Erdogan...I mean, if he wants, he could become President of Turkey, and force us to accept the reality of an image which does not suit modern Turkey, that of a turbaned spouse in the Cankaya Presidential Palace. If we respect the rules of the game, it means that we have to respect the outcome as well....And if Deniz Baykal doesn't want to see this happen, as we don't, rather than carrying out personal politics which see him as the general leader of the his party, he would do something to bring a CHP administration to power. People who answered worries about the "threats of reactionary movements" years ago by saying "What can we do?...We are living in a period of religious politicization," and who remained silent as the basis of a secular Republic was carved away at, now have no right to be uncomfortable with the possibility of seeing a turban in the Cankaya Palace. Â