Erdoğan offers roadmap to opposition!
Speaking non-stop for hours since the beginning of the week, Erdoğan has not uttered a single word on issues of concern to the public. He skirted around the issues that are weighing heavily on the people and making life unbearable.
The President did not waste a single moment this week. He spoke at the cabinet meeting on Monday, the Extended Provincial Governors' Meeting on Tuesday, and the Women's Branch Meeting on Wednesday. In total, he spent nearly three hours at the podium. He spoke thousands of words and formed hundreds of sentences.
I went through all these speeches. I tried to list the issues that citizens were curious about and waiting to hear. For me, the result was a complete disappointment. Because after reading all these speeches reflected on Erdoğan's teleprompter, there is only one item. That is the inclusion of five different smart cancer drugs in the SGK reimbursement scope. The rest is a series of promises he has been repeating for four or five years and a lot of confusing numbers. Of course, we are not counting the moments when he made the opposition's ears ring.
Then I wrote down the headlines that citizens were eagerly awaiting but that Erdoğan never brought up. There is a striking picture here:
What citizens are waiting for: Will there be an interim increase in the minimum wage in July? Will pensioners and public sector employees receive an increase above the inflation rate announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK)? What kind of increase will there be in the base salary of pensioners? Will farmers affected by frost receive any support other than interest-free loans? (Loans are also subject to a series of penalties.) Will there be any other proposal besides the 17% ‘poverty wage increase’ offered in response to public sector workers' wage demands? Will the demands of teachers who have not been appointed, are on contract, or were victims of unfair interviews be heard? Will orders be given to end the regulation that will destroy forests and olive orchards from the agenda? Is there any possibility of a regulation regarding the collapse in education and health? What has happened in the resolution process, the lack of trust in the judiciary, and the operations we're not even going involved in.
It is very clear that Erdoğan did not say anything that concerned the people or would benefit them during the three days. Even the last three days could not have painted a better picture of an exhausted government.
SIGN TO ANKARA
Another memorable headline from Erdoğan's three-day speech marathon was his call for the CHP to ‘return to Ankara.’ Following Bahçeli, Erdoğan also expressed his dissatisfaction with the political course pursued by the opposition and told Özel to ‘return to Ankara.’
Although the ruling party's call may not have achieved an absolute result in the arm wrestling match it entered into with the opposition on 19 March, it can also be interpreted as a call for reconciliation, believing that it has sufficiently weakened the opposition. But again, as far as we can understand, the first condition for this reconciliation is the acceptance of the regime's current position in all its aspects. The other condition is that no politics demanding power should be pursued. This demand lies behind the call from the palace to ‘stop travelling from city to city and return to Ankara.’ Erdoğan and Bahçeli are longing for those ‘good old days’ when the entire society watched what was happening on television, took sides based on the exchanges at Tuesday group meetings, helplessly accepted what was happening, and no one demanded anything. They are linking the condition of ending the pressure and violence carried out through the judiciary to that period.
When you put together what Erdoğan and Bahçeli have said, what they haven't said, and what they've kept quiet about, it outlines a pretty clear road map for the opposition.
The palace and its cronies are saying, ‘The regime is here to stay, don't touch it.’ This also shows that the first demand of the social opposition should be to change the regime.
There is no mention of poverty or the high cost of living. Şimşek's interest-inflation calculation is being used to monitor the economy. What is needed is an active economic policy that confronts this system of plunder and protection of the rich. While civil servants, workers, producers and pensioners are looking for solutions to improve their lives, this should be the main focus.
Our struggle against the law that will pave the way for the plundering of nature must be explained with endless patience, also revealing that the perpetrators of the interview victims' demands are one and the same. We must mobilise for every issue that the palace elites do not talk about. This is what will nullify the ruling party's show of power and expose its weakness.
In the face of the spirit and courage of the large crowds that have gathered, the ruling power continues to row against the natural flow of life and truth. It is worth repeating: There is no further distance to go with Trump and the judiciary's gunpowder.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Erdoğan, muhalefete yol haritası sunuyor! published in BirGün newspaper on July 3, 2025.
