Ahmed Daddoush - Al Jazeera Net
The media and social networking sites have recently been beset by the many positions and statements of the Republican People's Party of Turkey (TRP). The party, known for its secularism since the era of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, has changed its identity to rival its strongest rival, the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The attention was given to the mayor of Ankara, Mansour Yawash, who was recently elected by the People's Party when he opened his first day in his new post at dawn prayers at the historic Hajji Perm mosque before heading to his office.
Prior to this, the leaders of the media sites took pictures of the mayor of the "Polo" Tango Ozgan elected from the People's Party and accepts the Koran as well as the Turkish flag during his performance at the beginning of his work.
Before the start of the last municipal elections, the candidate of the Istanbul Municipal People's Party Akram Emamoglu was keen to appear in front of the journalists' cameras inside the historic Ayoub Sultan mosque and recite Surah Yassin, and then to pray for the victims of the terrorist attack on two mosques in New Zealand.
During his campaign, Imam Oglu showed a conservative speech that surprised many - including supporters of his party - when he took pictures of him praying in mosques or attending public events with his veiled mother. He also published pictures of the Koran at the top of his home and office.
Analysts said that Imam Oglu was deliberately reassuring conservative voters, was not just shake hands with the elderly during his tours in the alleys of Istanbul in front of the cameras, but also ask them to pray for him to succeed.
He has also said several times that the Justice and Development Party is trying to play a chord when he accuses his party of restricting religious freedom, which he considered a naked accusation of health.
Some people said that the time had come for the People's Party to be merged with the Justice and Development Party (AKP), while others felt that the party was only seeking to win over a section of its constituents who combined religious conservatism with nationalism. Nationalism.
The candidate of the secular opposition began a ceremony in Ankara for the morning prayers at the famous haci bayram mosque in Ankara. |
Previous positions
In the recent elections, these actions may not have been shocking. In comparison to other positions of the People's Party leaders in recent years, the party's candidate for the presidential elections, Muharram, was keen to perform Friday prayers in front of the cameras during his campaign to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in June 2018 , And he was ridiculed by the pioneers of the sites of communication when he tried to prove his religion by saying that he prays Friday every day.
The leader of the People's Party, Kemal Kiligdaroglu, who is supposed to be the leader of the Ataturk secular citadel, has shown several positions for reconciliation with conservatives. In January he appeared in a television ad for the party echoing prophetic traditions and a Sufi ruling, stressing the importance of religious values in society.
A few days later, he said that "the Arabic adhaan is a universal value for our Islamic religion, and wherever he utters the call to prayer in the world, he expresses the call of Islam" after his deputy Yilmaz Ozturk was expelled from the party.
The first manifestation of the secularist party was the choice of former OIC secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in 2014 to challenge Erdogan for the presidency. Although Ihsanoglu appeared at the time with his unguarded wife, his former post bore a symbolic dimension to courting the religious.
| Candidate of the Istanbul Municipal People's Party Akram Emamoglu (Anatolia) |
The identity of the party
The Republican People's Party (CPP) is the oldest Turkish political party, and no rival has been allowed since it was founded by Ataturk in 1923. Until Adnan Menderes succeeded in the split in 1945 to establish the Democratic Party and succeed in the first democratic elections for the premiership in 1950, His fate on the gallows.
The secularists continued their monopoly on power and their resistance to religious manifestations. The army was like an al-Qabban tribe that tended toward hard-line secularism whenever the conservatives tried to get Erdogan to come to power in 2003 through his nascent Justice and Development Party. The conservatives began maneuvering to adjust the mood of power to conform to religious heritage To the country that was the leader of the Islamic world and a successor to the Caliphate.
While some analysts see the People's Party getting rid of its new positions of secularism only, others believe the party is suffering from a double identity crisis.
In addition to the traditional Kemalists who sanctify secularism, there is a category that raises Turkish nationalism to the forefront of their concerns. Some of them may find themselves in Islam as one of the components of this nationalism. This leads some intellectuals to ask the party to review its identity Which itself has become a subject of controversy.