In the last presidential election, you had the chance to show what you wanted by voting… You took that chance and, by voting while wondering whether it was yesterday or the world, showed whom you stood behind.
Now, however, the situation is different: In the April 19, 2009 elections, you voted for the UBP, led by Derviş Eroğlu, who was presented to you as experienced and seasoned, and gave the UBP a majority government. Now the experienced and seasoned leader has become President, and is no longer in that government…
Now that party will choose a prime minister for you from within its own ranks…
So who is the public behind now?
Or, if someone else had been at the helm of the UBP, would the public have given it the same votes?
Kaşif?
Taçoy?
Küçük?
Özgürgün?
Çavuşoğlu?
Who?
It is very difficult to find the answer to that question…
Don’t you think the current system needs to be questioned in this situation?
Starting from this point, I can almost hear you saying, with a little bravado and a little partisanship, “So what happened, Cem—are we supposed to have an early election, then?”
Of course, that’s not what I’m saying, but I can’t pass up the chance to remind you: There was another presidential election in 2005, and the prime minister at the time, Mr. Talat, became President…
In his place, the CTP presented Mr. Soyer to us as prime minister. Just as then, you will now have a prime minister…
In the previous term, Mr. Soyer was criticized by many people—and that included UBP members—as “a prime minister the public didn’t elect,” for a very valid reason.
So what has changed now?
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be respectful in traffic…