The main item on today's agenda in Turkey is the question of what to do with the elections.
Assessing all the precariousness of the ruling party, however, as well as the far from stable position of the opposition, which has not presented a candidate from the unification of parties (“table of six”), it is worth saying that the issue of holding elections is equivalent in importance to the well-known rhetorical “to be or not to be? ".
The fact is that even before the humanitarian catastrophe, the Turkish leader decided to hold early elections on May 14.
The earthquakes that occurred later brought discord and confused all the cards, as they say, both yours and ours.
There is no unity in the ruling Justice and Development Party on the advisability of holding elections on May 14th.
One of the founders of Erdogan's party and part-time former speaker of the Turkish parliament, Bulent Arinc, believes that the elections should be postponed.
And immediately.
He explains this by the fact that Turkey needs to massively restore civilian infrastructure, and in some places to demolish entire cities and rebuild them.
The position of the Turkish president today is absolutely stalemate: any actions, whether it is visiting the victims or issuing them housing allowances for a year, are perceived, not without the help of the opposition, as earning points before the upcoming elections.
And any inaction would be exposed in the light that Erdogan absolutely does not care about the people, because he is preparing for the elections.
Meanwhile, the opposition says that, according to the law, it is impossible to postpone the elections.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not have the power to postpone elections without changing the constitution.
And to make changes, the president needs 2/3 of the votes in parliament, which can only be obtained with the support of the opposition.
Checkmate?..
In the meantime, checkmate has been delivered to the quiet life of the Turkish Republic.
The country is completely absorbed in internal problems: according to WHO estimates, 23 million people were affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in total, and the recovery of the country may take many years.
Although the president has ambitious plans - to complete the five-year plan in four years.
The rest of the situation is really a stalemate, since any gestures regarding the elections can change the situation for both the ruling party and the opposition.
Any delay, any decision or its challenge carries both opportunities and risks.
The opposition, for example, actively uses public anger regarding the pace of work of search and rescue teams, does not forget to blame Erdogan for the collapse of tens of thousands of buildings and, as a result, enormous damage to the country.
However, there is a fine line between objective criticism and using the disaster for political gain.
Two opposing forces in the Republic of Turkey today strive to paint the world in black and white, hang only two labels - "good" and "bad" - in an attempt to win the election race.
However, Turkey and its citizens as a whole are far from being categorized.
Today in Turkey there is a place for both life and death, and grief for loss, and gratitude for salvation, and disengagement against the backdrop of a humanitarian catastrophe, and uniting in the name of restoring the country - today's Turkey has a huge palette of colors.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.