Where are the five missing pieces of the puzzle?
The fragmented opposition rising against the ruling party needs to evolve into a clear picture, like a jigsaw puzzle. Today's need is for a continuous, organised and united opposition.
Public opinion polls today still indicate that over 30 per cent of voters have not decided which party to support. According to the same polls, around 30 per cent of voters believe that no party or individual can solve the country's accumulated problems.
One-third of the country seems to have lost hope in politics and politicians. It is unclear how much hope the remaining two-thirds have left in the current political situation.
In a country where only 20 per cent of the population is satisfied with their lives, such figures indicate that there is something wrong, something missing in the path being followed.
Millions are aware that they are becoming poorer, oppressed and despised. They see through experience that this regime will not improve. That is why, at the first opportunity, they cry out, ‘We've had enough!’ at the top of their voices. They do not believe any of the regime's ‘good news’. If President Erdoğan's speeches, announced as ‘very important topics’ and broadcast live on dozens of channels, are trailing even behind reruns of morning programmes in the ratings, imagine how dire the situation is for the regime. The number of people who turn to even the most popular political figure and wonder, ‘I wonder what he'll say,’ can be counted on one hand.
OBJECTIVE CONDITIONS EXIST
The country is in a state of great poverty and despair. Its leaders are incompetent, unqualified and, moreover, unjust. The people are fed up with those who have been running the country for years. Trust in those who have ruled the country for nearly 25 years has hit rock bottom. The distance between the regime and all dynamic segments of society, especially young people and women, is widening day by day.
The Presidential Government System, which was controversially approved in the referendum on 16 April 2017, nearly nine years ago, is not accepted by the overwhelming majority of the country. Escaping this monstrous regime, which has plunged the country's people into darkness, a dead-end road, and chaos, has become the most important demand for millions.
Despite the existence of a corrupt regime and millions of people who want to get rid of it, it is impossible to call the season the country is in ‘spring.’ Turkey is still under a gloomy, cloudy sky.
But why? What makes the regime believe it will win the elections once again and remain at the helm of the country for another term? Asking this question and seeking an answer is one of the most urgent tasks.
•The country's politics cannot break free from the constraints imposed by the regime. It is impossible to establish a strong, consistent and effective political line around the fundamental issues that cause suffering to millions.
•Voices that rise up at different moments and in different places cannot unite. Citizens fighting for women's rights, youth, secularism against reactionary forces, labour or ecology see the regime. But these oppositions cannot unite their strength against the regime. They cannot leap to an organised point. When the vast majority of society is unorganised, the voice of an organised minority can be louder.
•The opposition is struggling to overcome the limits set by the now dysfunctional parliament. It is trying to respond to the regime, which plays by no rules, with rules set by the regime itself, which it changes as it sees fit.
•Although everyone acknowledges the existence of the regime's strategy to fragment the opposition, no adequate response has been produced. Issues such as the resolution process, the new constitution, and Middle Eastern leadership are affecting and confusing both Kurdish politics and right-wing conservative politics. For this reason, some political parties in the opposition are becoming structures that cannot keep up with the sentiment of the people who have lost hope in the AKP-MHP alliance.
•There are limitations to the politics of one man against one man, one party against one party. The People's Alliance believes that Erdoğan will emerge victorious from such a contest and wants the opposition to position itself in the same way. However, the moments when the regime has wavered the most have been when the crowds have been bold and unpredictable. Today, the Achilles heel of the regime is the collective voice, action, and will of millions against centralisation.
DON'T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY
There is a perception that the regime has gained ground in the last few months, while the opposition has remained stagnant. Erdoğan and Bahçeli are justifying their actions over the past year and what they have inflicted on the people of this country with statements such as, ‘Now you understand, we told you so, look what will happen.’ Yet everyone knows that they are speaking the lines whispered in their ears, reading what is written on the teleprompter. There is no national or local project at stake. What is happening is nothing more than an alliance whose main motivation is to protect and consolidate the regime's power, trying to walk in line with the US. Therefore, there is no point in taking statements from the regime camp too seriously. What they will do is clear. Their political trajectory is predictable.
The issue lies in the ability of the social opposition to fill in the missing pieces in bringing forth the energy needed for change.
The gaps in the picture are also the set of tasks that must be completed in the next 10-15 months. For what Turkey needs is not to wait for a new saviour, but to build an organised popular will that will become that picture itself.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Yapbozdaki 5 eksik nerede?, published in BirGün newspaper on March 11, 2026.
