Turkey's political opposition seeks grand coalition to confront Erdogan in 2023

Turkey's political opposition is beginning to prepare for the next presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for June 2023. Their goal is to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power and rescue the country from what they consider "the deepest political and economic crisis" in its history. To this end, the leaders of the six main opposition parties have already started working on a joint roadmap for next year's elections. The CHP deputy chairman described the summit as "a big step towards Turkey becoming a democratic state based on the rule of law".

According to a joint communiqué, "the common responsibility of all of us is to overcome this crisis through reconciliation and unity, and to solve our deep problems on the basis of pluralism by expanding the field of democratic politics". The opponents stress that they are "based on consultation and reconciliation, not polarisation".

The note also refers to the construction of a democratic Turkey where rights and freedoms are guaranteed within the framework of Council of Europe and European Union standards. The Turkish opposition calls for a country "where all are equal and free citizens, where they can freely express their thoughts and live as they see fit".

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, chairman of the largest opposition Republican People's Party (CHP); Meral Aksener of the nationalist Good Party (Iyi); Temel Karamollaoglu of the conservative Felicity Party (SP); Gultekin Uysal of the Democratic Party; Ali Babacan of the Progress and Democracy Party (DEVA) and Ahmet Davutoglu of the Future Party met this weekend in Ankara to begin drawing up a plan to transform the Turkish government into a "strong parliamentary system".

Kilicdaroglu is a leading critic of the current Turkish regime. He has criticised the lack of judicial independence, the current economic situation and the energy crisis. Kilicdaroglu was the driving force behind the March for Justice from Ankara to Istanbul in the summer of 2017, a macro-demonstration denouncing the imprisonment of several political opponents. His incessant political activity has also cost him lawsuits from the executive. He was also attacked by a mob of men in the capital in 2019.

Aksener is the only woman in this opposition group. She was Interior Minister in Necmettin Erbakan's government between 1996 and 1997. After the meeting, Aksener said that for the first time she was "hopeful about the future of the country". On the other hand, her press advisor noted that "nothing will be the same after this meeting". 

The opposition group also includes politicians who were previously close to the Erdogan regime, such as Babacan and Davutoglu. Their presence at this meeting sends a clear message to the president, from whom they disassociated themselves years ago due to political disputes.

Babacan served as economy minister from 2002 to 2007. He then headed the foreign ministry until 2009. During his tenure in this ministry Erdogan appointed him chief negotiator for Turkey's EU accession talks. However, in 2019 he left the Justice and Development Party (AKP) citing "internal and ideological divisions within the party".

After his resignation, Erdogan warned that whoever "gets off the train" will not return. A year later, Babacan created his own political party, the Progress and Democracy Party (DEVA). During its launch, the former minister alluded to "the violation of human rights and the curtailment of freedoms" in Turkey. "We are taking off to build a future free of violence, fear, repression and discrimination," he declared, according to Europa Press.

On the other hand, Davutoglu succeeded Babacan at the head of the Foreign Ministry between 2009 and 2014, a period in which he began to develop what is known as neo-Ottomanism. He subsequently served as prime minister until 2016. Like Babacan, Davutoglu resigned and left the AKP due to irreconcilable differences with Erdogan to create his own party. The former minister did not share the same views with the president on the presidentialist regime that Ankara installed in 2018.

In this regard, the vice president of the Future Party, Mustafa Gözel, has announced that Davutoglu will participate in "all the tables that are in the interest of the country, with the effort to get rid of the crisis environment in which the country finds itself, to establish a just order in which no part of society loses", as reported by local media. 

Davutoglu continues to stand by his ideals on Turkish foreign policy. He has recently spoken out on the current crisis in Ukraine, criticising NATO's failure to give Ankara "the reputation it deserves". "There is a crisis on our side. NATO leaders are meeting and Mr Erdogan is not even invited. It is unacceptable that we are not at the table of a crisis for which we will pay more," he wrote on his Twitter account.

One of the most notable aspects of the meeting was the absence of the pro-Kurdish formation, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). Several members of this parliamentary group have been accused by the Turkish authorities of being "terrorists", and some have been imprisoned for alleged links to Kurdish militants.

In response, Kilicdaroglu told reporters that talks would continue. "We will also meet with the HDP, no problem", he told the Turkish media Yani Akit Gazetesi. The opposition leader stressed that it is essential to maintain a dialogue with the HDP and "seek consensus". 

This meeting in Ankara comes at a time when Erdogan's popularity is in sharp decline due to, among many other things, the severe economic crisis and the mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic. Persecution of journalists and opponents who denounce the critical situation has increased, although even the president's supporters are beginning to question his policies. In this regard, Turkish journalist Sedar Vadar comments in DW that Erdogan "has created several enemies and beatable crises in the past, but this time the crisis is real and affects the pockets of his own voters".