Who’s Afraid of Turkey’s Opposition?

The genuine fear in Turkey is that the Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP) now stands as an impediment to formation of a credible alternative on the left.
Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu addresses his supporters during a demonstration in Ankara March 27, 2012. Thousands of Turkish opposition supporters demonstrated in the capital Ankara on Tuesday against a government attempt to railroad a new education bill through parliament which secular parties say is designed to promote Islamic schooling. The government wants to overturn a 1997 law imposed with the backing of the military which led to a sharp decrease in
Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu addresses his supporters during a demonstration in Ankara, March 27, 2012. - REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Yavuz Baydar
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A recent political scandal in Brussels has demonstrated that Turkey’s domestic tensions have now spilled overseas, raising internationally the questions asked daily by Turks eager for an alternative to the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The scandal unfolded when the leader of the Kemalist Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, went to Brussels to meet with Hannes Swoboda, the head of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the second largest group in the European Parliament.

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