Good luck to our people with the referendum. When I was writing this article, the votes were mostly –at least to give an idea- calculated. Because the first results were from the eastern cities, where referendum ended earlier in comparison to the western cities, the results could not give a general idea about the referendum results. Later the final results were clear and accordingly 58 percent of people said “yes” and 42 percent of people said “no”.

For those insistently trying to create a general election atmosphere during referendum process, this can be regarded as a definite defeat. There was a constitutional reform package and it was all clear cut. However, “no” propagandists insistently tried to attribute a different meaning to this package. They not only relied on the effects of what they had said on the election and discussion platforms, but also they tried to change the atmosphere of the referendum for the constitutional reform by using all elements of psychological war. On the one hand the PKK escalated terror with no reason; on the other hand they made a peace agreement. Moreover the BDP’s insistence on boycotting did not correspond with the conscience of the people in the region. Therefore, with the military operation in Hakkari (city) five days before the referendum, had an effect on the decisions of the people in the region.

Nevertheless, according to the results it seems that “no” propagandists could not convince even a significant number of people among their own supporters. Furthermore, if these results should be considered as a result of an election, they need to realize the clear message given to them by the people.

First of all, the BDP (the Peace and Democracy Party) should derive a lesson from it. In spite of the PKK’s all threats and pressures, the participation rate in the Southeastern region –particularly in Batman and Diyarbakır cities- was above 40 percent. In the previous elections the participation rate in this region was already above 60 percent and we can say that the BDP’s boycott only showed its effect on this rate only with the percentage of 20. The BDP’s boycotter attitude towards Turkey’s democratization will stick in Kurdish voters’ mind. In this election, it partially had an effect on it by oppressing people’s will with the threats and pressures of an armed force; yet it can wait for the people’s response to these pressures in the coming elections.

I talked with some people in the region who devoted their lives to the struggle with the Kurdish identity and the impression they made on me was: “We were not such oppressed even when we were under the oppression of JITEM (Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-terror Unit), about which we complained a lot, and of the deep state at the time of emergency.” And it is understood that the democracy that the BDP deemed suitable for the region is nothing more than the repercussion of despotism, oppression, and refusal policies.

It is realized that Kılıçdaroğlu’s leadership gained no favor from the referendum results. According to these results, we can say that the CHP (the Republican People’s Party) will start to question its position from different perspectives. Even now there may be some people who do not wait such kind of a thing from the CHP. However, we need to state that objective conditions requiring the questioning for the CHP are already present.

The tension aroused with the referendum was about the positions that the status quo risked in order not to lose. Now that these positions are normalized, we can expect that the given situation will be accepted by necessity; thus there will be a relaxation.

To tell the truth, everyone will see that the judicial system will neither be under the control of the ruling party nor of a group of people. On the contrary, the judicial system is no longer the property of some people and it is now an opportunity for everyone to seek their rights equally. It will be understood clearly without a fear of loss.

It will be more clearly understood that this result will make every citizen in Turkey saying “yes” or “no” rather stronger and it will relieve everyone.

It needs to be accepted that Tarhan Erdem is indisputably one of the winners of this referendum. Because Erdem proved that how a proper scientific survey can reflect reality strongly.

Now we can wish everyone good luck with the referendum results contently.

(Published on Yeni Şafak [newspaper] on Sept. 13, 2010)