NA government protocol: This is as good as it gets

TURKEY - In Brief 01 Feb 2023 by Atilla Yesilada

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Turkey’s six-party opposition alliance, recently renamed as the Nation Alliance, issued its election manifesto and coalition protocol with great fanfare on 30 January, thus making asymptotic progress to the finish line, which would be crossed if it manages to unite around a single presidential candidate on 13 February or “thenabouts”. The gargantuan 245- page document is a significant milestone in the 70 year history of multi-party democracy in the country in the sense that it commits 6 parties from different segments of the political spectrum, commanding roughly 50% of the national vote, to a set of principles and policies to be employed if and when they win the elections. The policies promised are mostly practical and will get Turkey back on track to becoming a modern democracy, with some glaring shortcomings. There are some “soundbite” type of promises which can be effectively used in the election campaign to undermine Erdogan, and the document will also serve as a “sales manual” for the rank and file of the six parties to talk the same language and present a unified front. This is probably my first take on the content of the Joint Policies Protocol (JPP), which may be supplemented with more commentary and analysis in the coming days, because there is simply too much to digest; and commentary- both negative and positive- is still flowing in. At the end though, it is fair to say that JPP changed the minds of few skeptics among opposition pundits and it will only have a positive impact on voter behavior if it can be marketed by a joint candidate hitting the campaign trail asap. And, perhaps this is the point to start this lengthy essay on JJP, because if as some criti...