Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) demonstration in Istanbul, Turkey, on 17 June 2018 for the upcoming general elections.NurPhoto/ Press Association. All rights reserved.
Turkey is preparing for an election of historic importance to be held on June 24, 2018. The AKP during 16 years in power have created a rent-seeking economy through the exploitation of labor and nature only to benefit its own supporters. It was the shopping malls, chain markets and contractors supporting the government that benefited and thrived, not the workers, civil servants, retirees, farmers, tradespersons. As the foreign debt continued to grow, the AKP government continuously wasted economic resources in luxury, in more construction, in arms and war.
The AKP that came to power following the economic crisis of 2002 was forced to call the elections in a panic after dragging the country into a severe economic crisis in the last days of its 16 years in power. Different social strata in society have begun to feel the economic consequences of the government’s security policies and growing oppression, and ambitions for regime change in favor of one-man rule, especially after 2014. As HDP, we see the deepening of crisis of democracy in recent years as the principle cause of the current economic crisis. The AKP-MHP coalition aims to rule the country under the law of a state of emergency and a regime under one-man rule. In recent years the AKP has shattered the social peace.
