New era after these elections

It is not a surprise that Tayyip Erdoğan won the elections. I congratulate him and wish that his presidential term will be one in which polarization and political tension in Turkey will decrease and accommodating and rational stances are advanced. I believe that the 52 percent of votes he has received necessitates this, because when we think of the power of his party, the intensity of the campaign organized and the dynamism of its organization, he and his party should ponder why they did not receive more votes.

It is also obviously necessity for the opposition to also ponder why they fell short in this election, receiving less than the total of their votes in the March 30 local election, despite expecting more votes with their joint candidate.

The power of 52 percent 

When we look closer at the votes received by Erdoğan, who has been elected as the 12th president of Turkey, we can see some interesting points.

Despite this whole intense and this tumultuous campaign, Erdoğan’s votes remained around their March 30 level. The main reason why the votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which were around 43 percent in the local elections - and 45 percent when mayoral positions are considered - were 52 percent in these elections is because the turnout was low. The turnout, which was 89 percent on March 30, dropped to 72 percent in these elections. If participation had been higher, Erdoğan would not have been able to win the elections in first round with these votes.

If the opposition becomes more active and politically motivated in the upcoming 2015 elections, and if the AKP still receives around 20 million votes, it will absolutely not have the opportunity to amend the Constitution to move...