​The dawn is pregnant with surprises

TURKEY - In Brief 23 Apr 2018 by Atilla Yesilada

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A blizzard of alliance diplomacy among three opposition parties, which is already yielding fruit, brought to mind the famous phrase in the title, uttered by former PM and President Demirel. “The pregnancy” period may last until the weekend and might (not my most likely scenario) result in former president Gul running a second time on a joint opposition ticket, or a broad alliance of opposition parties. Or, perhaps nothing will happen. On Saturday, CHP“lent”15 deputies to Good Party (Mrs. Aksener’s central right outfit), which automatically qualifies it to contest the general elections andopens the way for Mrs. Aksener’s presidential bid without the hassle of collecting 100K signatures. The move was announced after a secret meeting between CHP leader Kilicdaroglu and Aksener. Since then, Kilicdaroglu and the chairman of the small Islamist party SP Mr. Karamollaoglu had a one-hour summit, which ended in broad smiles all around. Karamollaoglu will now knock on the door of Aksener, and more intriguingly on Mr. Gul’s (Wednesday). Opposition press claims that the three leaders are negotiating for an electoral alliance a la AKP-MHP, as well as producing a common candidate, perhaps Mr. Gul, to challenge president Erdogan. Unconfirmed reports suggest Gul is open to candidacy, if these three parties issue a public invitation. AKP-MHP alliance was the first in Turkish history based on broad principles rather than sharing the spoils, which is replete with failed joint ventures. It is not clear whether AKP-MHP will succeed in the ballot, as several polls indicate that a large portion of MHP voters are skeptical about voting for Erdogan.At least though, AKP-MHP has concrete shared g...