Sedat Ergin: What Happened To AKP?

“There are striking differences between the permit vote of March 1 and October 7. The most important one of these differences, is the way in which the Cabinet tackled the permit. For instance, in the case of the March 1 permit, when the Cabinet gathered ahead of the voting on February 24 under then-Prime Minister Abdullah Gul, there were ministers, who either supported or opposed to the permit.Some of the ministers even could publicly voice their opposition. This time, when the Cabinet gathered under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to tackle the permit on October 6, no such “crack” appeared. It was an easy meeting. The sole minister, who openly voiced his hesitation, was State minister Prof. Mehmet Aydin.“In the case of the first permit, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) group tackled the permit for two days, about 20 hours…This time the group meeting, in which the second permit was taken up, took about 2 hours…And only one deputy openly objected to the permit.“…When we take a look at the timing, the March 1 permit was voted amidst the wave of public reaction created by weeks-long discussions. For instance, on March 1, while the permit was voted in Parliament, thousands of demonstrators were marching in the streets of Ankara. On the other hand, on October 7, there was no such important demonstration. The plan of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, which caught everyone unprepared, played an important role in this. Erdogan prevented a severe opposition wave from forming in the public by keeping the issue ambiguous and uncertain…And then surprisingly, he first brought the issue to the cabinet and then to Parliament, with the speed of lightning…Moreover, he arranged the timing in away that the voting took place ahead of the AKP congress, and turned it into a vote of confidence. “…We can say that the AKP group underwent a big metamorphosis since the March 1 voting and proved the “one-man-show” of Erdogan and his leadership.”�