Gezi lessons to the Turkish opposition

We all know how Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan considered the Gezi wave of protests that shook Turkey for three weeks a year ago.

He said on state television TRT over the weekend that Turkey had returned from the brink last year thanks to his Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) government’s strong stance. He suspects it was a plot to overthrow his government by international forces (including an unnamed “interest rate lobby”) that did not want Turkey to prosper under his leadership. Later on, he used a similar rhetoric against his erstwhile ally, the Gülenists, following the corruption cases opened on Dec. 17 and 25, 2013, against individuals close to him.

Over the weekend, everyone observed the incredible security build-up in Istanbul, Ankara and other big cities in order to permit no more demonstrations marking Gezi and the eight people who lost their lives as a result of Erdoğan’s strong stance.

Little has been said by the opposition so far.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has been criticizing the government because of the excessive use of police force against demonstrators and its plans to convert Gezi Park into a shopping mall, but did not get too involved, knowing that it is not their neighborhood.

The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), now transforming into the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), showed great interest in the beginning, but later on focused on its Kurdish agenda, knowing that without a strong AK Parti in the government, negotiations with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with which it shares the same grassroots, could be at risk.

The social democratic main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has been showing close...