People shop at Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Türkiye, Nov. 4, 2022. (Reuters Photo)
Türkiye's main agenda today is to tackle the problems faced by the 11 provinces affected by the Kahramanmaraş earthquake; however, there is another central agenda waiting for the country ahead that will come to light soon.
The day before the earthquake, the country's election was the most heated and discussed topic on all the news channels.
The elections are not only a national competition between the ruling and opposition blocs but also carry international weight, with supporters of both sides around the globe.
The international order established by Western states for 200 years has gotten involved in every political development in the rest of the world. They have found ways of directly occupying one part of the world, keeping some of it semi-colonial, and skillfully ruling another part indirectly.
After World War II, there was a significant break, and the United States replaced the European states. It was the U.S. that took the lead in the Western world to interfere in the internal affairs of other states and influence their politics. Today, hegemonic states are not as strong as they used to be, nor are other countries, such as Türkiye, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil or South Africa, as weak as before.
While the United States projected its hard power across the globe, it also spread soft power, dazzling the people through exaggerated movies of its intelligence organizations. Therefore, when the West decided on something, they would get results from it, and the third-world countries had no choice but to follow it helplessly. In a way, the Westerners’ operations in Africa, Asia and South America have almost become a destiny that nobody could resist.
Recently, Türkiye started to regain its historical power step by step. The global conjuncture, geopolitical conditions, the change of balances, the effect of geography or the fate of some nations sometimes cause opportunities to arise.
Today, especially under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's leadership for 20 years, Türkiye has resisted dominant Western powers while standing on its own feet, strengthening its economy and improving its defense industry capacity.
Since the main opposition party in Türkiye could not compete with President Erdoğan, it put together a bloc and gathered six parties under one roof, right-wing, left-wing or conservative. It is legitimate for all parties in Türkiye to fight to change the cons, and it is appropriate for the political climate. It is striking, however, that the world's most influential magazines, newspapers and news agencies emphasize that the election in Türkiye is the most critical one of the year.
Considering that Ukraine and Russia are at war and NATO allies are in conflict with Russia, we can say that the world is on the brink of another world war. On the other hand, the Turkic states established their union in the Caucasus.
Türkiye has been present in Libya and has ensured that the government recognized by the United Nations is stable and permanent.
It stood by Azerbaijan in the Armenian-Azerbaijani war and helped convince Armenia to withdraw from the occupied territories.
The states that rebel against the French in Africa are on the side of Türkiye, regardless of whether Türkiye is involved. Large and small Balkan states see their existence and security as equivalent to the security of Türkiye. Despite the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, both sides applauded Erdoğan at the peace talks in Istanbul. At the same time, the globe avoided the food crisis with the initiatives of the president rather than the United Nations.
Erdoğan's leadership, with his vast experience in the international arena, has made Türkiye a player and has focused on regaining its historical mission step by step. The states that could not demonstrate success against Türkiye in the struggles abroad have sought another method to eliminate Erdoğan: To stand behind the opposition with all their might in the elections.
However, the Westerners, proclaiming the election in Türkiye as the most critical election of the year and taking position should recall that the Turks went on expeditions at some historical milestones. One of these expeditions was the migrations from Central Asia to the west, which paved the way for dozens of states.
The second expedition was the westward expansion of the Ottoman Empire, in which almost half of today's European lands were under Ottoman rule. And today, Turks are about to develop extraordinary solidarity and trade with their neighbors to expand the country's strategy, again per its historical mission.
Of course, the election to be held in Türkiye, as Westerners say, is the most critical one of the year. Not only Westerners are aware of it. The Turkish people are more aware of this situation with their historical identity, mission and consciousness. They will vote for their future in this election.
The winner will be the Turkish nation.