Voter Behavior Examined at the School of Politics!

In the third week of the School of Politics program, organized for the eighth time this year by the Bahçeşehir University School of Government and Leadership, the topics of voter behavior, an independent judiciary and new constitution efforts, democracy in the 21st century, the definition of liberal democracy, and change and politics in Türkiye were addressed with the participation of Nationalist Movement Party Deputy Chair Yıldırım Tuğrul Türkeş, Koç University faculty member Prof. Dr. Ali Çarkoğlu, Mersin Member of Parliament İsa Gök, Liberal Democrat Party Chair Cem Toker and Radikal newspaper columnist Oral Çalışlar.

Highlights from the program are as follows:

Yıldırım Tuğrul TÜRKEŞ:
"Although the likelihood of conflict among members of government is greater in coalitions, this does not show that single-party rule will always produce good results. Democracy is the least flawed, if not the most ideal, form of government that people have found over the ages. Democracy is not for those who govern but for those who are governed; in a democracy, it is the people who must be strong. Within the political system, it is not the government but the opposition that must be strong. If we consider unemployment in Türkiye and the fact that children cannot benefit from their right to education, we see that the so-called 'advanced democracy' does not actually exist."

Prof. Dr. Ali ÇARKOĞLU:
"In the 2000s, voter turnout rose, reaching approximately 80%. It is very important to learn the preferences of those outside this 80%, as they have the power to change certain balances. Voters are divided into two groups, partisan and undecided voters, and it is the undecided voters who determine shifts in votes in elections. Certain conclusions can be drawn from general observation, but surveys provide very important details."

İsa GÖK:
"The first thing a person engaged in politics must never forget is the law. If you base things on the absence of rules, that is the worst outcome; it is dictatorship. Law is an ideal. For a society to function soundly, there must be rules. The worst rule is better than no rules at all. However, if you do not abide by the constitution you yourself enacted, you cannot call this a state governed by the rule of law."."

Cem TOKER:
"In our country, as opposed to the views of social democrats that everything is for society, of conservative nationalists that everything is for the nation, and of those with a religious ideology that everything is for the ummah, liberalism advocates individualism. Liberal democracy has five pillars: a free market economy, fundamental rights and freedoms, the rule of law, limited government and individualism. There is innovation in countries where there is freedom."

Oral ÇALIŞLAR:
"The cause of modernization in Türkiye has been built on a struggle between progressives and reactionaries. Throughout the history of the Republic, there have been two conflicting currents of thought: Prince Sabahattin's liberal perspective and Ahmet Rıza's Jacobin perspective. In this conflict, authoritarian modernization has always prevailed. In addition, relations with the forces of production also determine ideas. As the relationship of Anatolia's conservative producers with the forces of production changed, their ideas changed too: EU membership began to be emphasized, and the discourse of democracy grew stronger."