Turkey witnessed a first in the run-up to the June 7 elections as all public institutions, the public budget and the “impartial” post of president were all mobilized to ensure the victory of a single party in the polls. As such, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) veritably “took over the public” for the June 7 elections.

The AKP demonstrated how the “advantages” of being in power can be abused during the June 7 elections. Public institutions and resources, as well as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s post as president, were all mobilized for the AKP.

Erdoğan pounds the pavement

Despite being required to remain impartial during elections as president, Erdoğan turned the post into a campaign headquarters for the first time ever. Declaring his demand for “400 MPs [from the AKP]” and that he was “equidistant to all parties, even though there is one in my heart,” Erdoğan declared his bias during rallies.

Erdoğan hit the hustings while pretending to open new facilities in a number of places; when that was no longer tenable, he commenced a series of mass “Meetings with the President.” When that also became no longer tenable, he returned to provinces to open facilities that had, inconveniently, already been opened. Although Erdoğan had previously opened a recycling plant in Amasya, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız returned during the campaign to open the facility “again” for a fifth time.

Taking aim at the opposition with every rally, Erdoğan made a mockery of the Election Law. Furthermore, the expenses for all the rallies and ceremonies was deducted from the public budget.

Campaigning on the public budget

Receiving the most money from the Treasury for the 2015 general elections with 298 million TL, the AKP mobilized all public resources to ensure that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which does not benefit from any funds from the Treasury, would remain below the 10% threshold.

Erdoğan, along with PM Ahmet Davutoğlu, ministers and MPs, traveled the length and breadth of the country demanding votes for the AKP, resulting in state-of-emergency measures being implemented whenever their circus rolled into town.

Enlisted into service were also provincial and district governors, as well as education directors. Frequently, officials issued orders to public institutions in an effort to ensure that squares would be filled for AKP rallies. İzmir Gov. Mustafa Toprak mandated attendance by employees at public institutions with a note that demanded that “the highest participation be ensured for the most enthusiastic celebration” of an opening ceremony under Erdoğan’s direction. In Hakkari, students from İmam Hatip religious vocational schools were brought to the opening of an airport in shuttle buses. On May 30, people were brought to a celebration of the conquest of Istanbul in Yenikapı with municipal buses, while officials sent officials requests to schools that at least 150-200 students attend the event, which quickly turned into a “presidential celebration” for Erdoğan.

As if it was not enough to forcibly bring public employees and students to the rallies, companies with close links to the AKP also forced their workers to attend. In Adana, 180 subcontractors employed by the Erma firm at the Çukurova Women, Birth and Children’s Hospital were forced to attend an AKP rally with threats that they would otherwise lose their jobs.

During the campaign, public buildings and municipalities were decorated with AKP banners, mosques became AKP campaign centers and PTT cargo vehicles became de facto AKP campaign vehicles. In Niğde’s Hükümet Square, it emerged that the AKP’s campaign truck actually belonged to state broadcaster TRT-1. In Manisa, a banner was hung expressing greetings from Soma miners to Erdoğan, despite the deaths of 301 miners the previous year in an “accident” that stemmed from the AKP’s mining policies.

Erdoğan, who pronounced it his “most natural right to travel with the state’s money” around the country while campaigning for the AKP, has now spent four times more since becoming president in August 2014 than predecessor Abdullah Gül did in his seven-year term.

According to Republican People’s Party (CHP) MP Umut Oran, the expenses for “representation and hosting” spent during opening ceremonies and events to lay foundations that were transformed into AKP rallies rose 100% during the first four months of the year to 52 million liras. A total of 252 million TL has been allocated to representation and hosting in the 2015 budget.

Supreme Election Board rolls up sleeves for AKP

Amid an atmosphere in which Erdoğan had little reason to shy away from admitting that he was using the state’s resources, the Supreme Election Board (YSK), whose task is to ensure the integrity of the elections, also became a tool for the AKP. The HDP, CHP, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Homeland Party (Vatan) all filed complaints about Erdoğan to the YSK with demands that the elections be conducted “orderly and honestly.” The YSK rejected the complaints the same night, but dissenting voices soon began to emerge on the body in subsequent days. Ünal Demirci and Ahmet Tuncay, two of the 11 members on the YSK, noted that because no one had anticipated that the president would act with bias during the elections, there was no law preventing such behavior on the books.

Media on command

The AKP’s media consistently ran the same headlines, while also becoming government election bulletins by continually targeting the opposition parties. Television channels consistently carried the AKP’s rallies and Erdoğan’s rallies, while many also never covered the opposition leaders or their candidates.

According to date from state media watchdog RTÜK, in the last month alone, TRT allocated 45 hours of coverage to Erdoğan, 54.5 hours to the AKP, 14 hours to the CHP, 7.5 hours to the MHP and three hours to the HDP. From the start of the campaign on April 1 until June 3, in interview programs, special reports and rallies carried live on TRT channels, some 10,120 minutes (168 hours or one consecutive week) were devoted to the AKP, 3,431 minutes of which was devoted to Erdoğan’s live pronouncements.

June 7, 2015

Sendika.Org News