Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 14
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Turkey's transition from parliamentary to presidential form of government means the beginning of a new era for the country’s political parties.
I think we will see this epoch in 2019 when parliamentary, municipal and presidential elections will be held in Turkey at the same time.
Although much time left before these elections, there is already pre-election activity in Turkey.
The ruling Justice and Development Party has started to carry out domestic reforms to get rid of the old personnel in the middle of this year.
It is still difficult to draw any conclusions about the results of the reforms in the ruling party, but the appointment of some not very prominent individuals to the posts may lead to a number of problems during the municipal and parliamentary elections in 2019.
Today there are 6 main political parties in the Turkish political arena, namely, Justice and Development Party, the Nationalist Movement Party, the Republican People's Party, the Democratic People's Party, the Great Unity Party and, of course, the Good party (İyi Parti).
The current political situation in Turkey testifies that before the elections scheduled for 2019, political parties can create coalitions that will actually divide parties into left-wing and right-wing parties.
Leader of Nationalist Movement Party Devlet Bahceli said today that until 2019 the party will render support to the Justice and Development Party in response to the hidden political convergence between Democratic People's Party and Republican People's Party.
Moreover, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a meeting with leader of the Great Unity Party Mustafa Destici and it is not ruled out that the sides discussed the pre-election situation in the country.
In general, despite some disagreements, Justice and Development Party, Nationalist Movement Party and Great Unity Party share the right-wing parties’ political views.
As for left-wing Democratic People's Party and center-left Republican People's Party, the lack of strong politics in these parties forces them to work together, especially before the elections.
At first glance, İyi Parti, which was founded upon right-wing political views, will be in the most difficult situation. But perhaps, İyi Parti will work together with Republican People's Party and Democratic People's Party.
It is not ruled out that the "consolidation" of right-wing and left-wing parties in Turkey can lead to a system similar to the US party system in the future, where two political parties dominate.
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Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu