Political movement in Turkey results in the expansion of alliances. Will Erbakan's son cooperate with Erdogan?

ISTANBUL – As Turkey's general election approaches, competition between political alliances is intensifying, especially between the ruling People's Alliance and the opposition Nation Alliance, or the six-party table.

The political movement in the country escalated after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially announced that the election date would be brought closer to May 14, in exchange for the main opposition alliance agreeing to nominate Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for the presidential elections.

After the election date was decided and the joint presidential candidate of the opposition began to devote themselves to mobilizing ranks, while the government coalition opened the door for some smaller parties to join and form a stronger front in the elections.

Alliance "Public"

"We will write a new success story within the People's Alliance on May 14 with our friends in the alliance and with those who will join us recently," Erdogan said at a meeting of his party last Saturday, referring to his party's efforts to include a number of parties.

Last week, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) began negotiations with a number of smaller parties that included offers to join the People's Alliance and run in the upcoming elections together, most notably the Welfare Party again led by Fatih Erbakan, son of Necmettin Erbakan, founder of the country's political Islamist movement.

Among the parties that confirmed their joining the People's Alliance is the Free Dawa Party, or what is known in Turkish as "Huda Bar", a Kurdish party with Islamist and nationalist tendencies, which is seen on the Turkish street as the antithesis of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The list of parties nominated to join the ruling coalition includes the Motherland Party, the Democratic Left Party, and the Right Way Party.

Free Call Party (FDA) Chairman Zekeriya Yabecioglu on a previous visit to Erdogan (AKP)

Political representation

The AKP's interest in including a number of smaller parties in the government coalition comes despite the fact that none of them recorded a significant presence in voting intentions, according to opinion polls announced by research firms from time to time.

It's not about how many votes they will receive, but about the political ideas they hold and the social strata they represent, says Batuhan Takeş, editor-in-chief of Turkey's English-language Daily Sabah, a newspaper close to the government.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, the Turkish journalist hit the "Free Call" party as an example, as it represents conservative and religious Kurdish voters in the country, and the voting rate for this party is usually low, but it has strategic importance in terms of the segment they represent, likely to support some voters from the supporters of this party Coalition of the public when his party falls under it.

Representation of all slides

For his part, researcher and political analyst specializing in Turkish affairs Saeed al-Hajj believes that Erdogan and his party's interest in including small parties ahead of the May 14 elections, unlike previous elections, is due to two main reasons:

First, the opposition, specifically the six-party table, presented a narrative that it constitutes the country's political, intellectual, and ideological diversity, and that the AKP is a pariah with which only the MHP is aligned. It is therefore useful for the AKP to present itself as expressing a broad alliance and different segments of the Turkish people, he added.

According to the researcher on Turkish affairs, the second reason, which is the most important, is the sharp polarization and intense competition in the upcoming presidential elections, so one vote may make a difference, so there is keenness on the largest possible number of parties and their supporters to support President Erdogan.

Fatih Erbakan initially welcomed the alliance with Erdogan to run in the presidential elections (Anatolia)

Demands for "welfare again"

Despite the many parties that have received offers from the People's Alliance to join it, the Welfare Party is receiving special attention from the ruling party, given the symbolism of its leader, Fatih Erbakan, who presents himself as the heir to the "National Vision" ideology founded by Erbakan Sr. and to which all conservative parties, including the Justice and Development Party (AKP), are affiliated.

AKP Deputy Chairman Binali Yildirim visited the headquarters of the Welfare Party to offer him to join the ruling coalition in preparation for joint elections.

Although Erbakan welcomed the invitation he received from Erdogan through Yıldırım, he stressed that the decision to join will be taken by the relevant parties in his party in the coming days.

The Turkish newspaper "Yeni Safak", which is close to the Justice and Development Party, revealed that Erbakan submitted a list of 30 items that represent conditions for his party to accept the invitation to join the People's Alliance.

According to the newspaper, the most prominent demands stipulated the party's commitment to run in the elections with its candidates and its own slogan, and the abolition or amendment of some laws related to the family and society, leading to the prohibition of sexual relations outside marriage, and the passage of withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on Women's Rights through the House of Representatives.

Yeni Safak said that a compromise had been reached between the two parties and the approval of the Welfare Party had been secured again, which had not yet officially announced this.

If Necmettin Erbakan were alive, would he have allied himself with the CHP?

Mehmet Fatih Erbakan answers. pic.twitter.com/nd6i7PJ62H

— Akar Hakan 🇹🇷 (@akarh99) March 15, 2023

Why "well-being again"?

According to journalist Batuhan Takesch, the reason for the AKP's interest in bringing the Welfare Party back into the ruling coalition is the fact that the two parties share many similarities in terms of political views and their shared voting base, as supporters of both parties belong to the National Vision Movement.

Takesch added that the AKP was seeking to "win back the votes of conservative and religious voters who are finally losing their votes in favor of 'welfare again'."

For his part, Saeed al-Haj pointed out that the Welfare Party is again a rival to the Felicity Party, which sits at the opposition table, both in terms of representing the national vision and conservative votes.

The Turkish researcher concluded that the AKP is moving more towards Islamist and conservative parties due to ideological, intellectual and political convergence, and this is more objectionable, unlike the six-party table, whose parties vary in shape.

Erdogan wants his alliance to be "somewhat homogeneous," says al-Hajj, who sees this as a message to society that "the alliance is ideological, not instantaneous."