Problems faced today cannot be cured overnight
One year from now, Turkey will not be a very different country than it is today. It will continue to be a country with problematic democracy, no rule of law, not recognizing the sovereignty rights of its neighbors, and causing suffering to its people.
One of Turkey’s main problems is the formation of a state that imposes a Turkish supremacist, ethnic-racist identity on its citizens. The foundations of this state are based on Ottoman imperialism and the racist and expansionist policies of the Union and Progress Party.
Because of these existing foundations, the problems faced today are not problems that can be cured overnight; on the contrary, they are structural problems and their cure will require fundamental reforms, if not a replacement of the state architecture as well as rewriting the official Turkish-supremacist history with a comprehensive, inclusive history.
Turkey should be a decentralized, federal, democratic and secular republic emphasizing its Anatolian identity, that is, referring to geographical identity.
I do not see realistically the possibility that Turkey in the next year will bring with it a political power that will open the door to the changes I mentioned.
Mehmet Caman, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. Expert on Turkey and human rights.
* This opinion piece is part of an in-depth look by 10 analysts, journalists and experts into Turkey ahead of the June 2023 elections: Where will Turkey be a year from now?
