Research expert: Turkey led by ‘identity politics’

The presidential elections have shown that Turkey is stuck with “identity politics,” General Manager of the KONDA Research Company has said.

Speaking to daily Hürriyet, as part of a week-long series of analyses of the country’s first-ever presidential elections by popular poll, Bekir Ağırdır, the head of KONDA, said yesterday’s voting continued an ongoing trend that was confirmed in the local elections.

“This was confirmed in March 30: All four parties are representatives of one identity,” Ağırdır said. “The Justice and Development Party [AKP] is the party for the religious, the conservative. The Republican People’s Party [CHP] is the party for the seculars, laicists, or modern [people] with worries. The Nationalist Movement Party [MHP] is the nationalists’ and the Peace and Democracy Party [BDP] is the Kurds’. Turkey is stuck to four parties of identity politics.”

Ağırdır added the situation is not “superficial,” and has its sociological reflections in society. “In the past, the identities were pushing the parties, but now parties are manipulating the identities and shaping their sociological bases,” he said.

Ağırdır said the AKP is not getting all its votes from being religious, but from its power and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s leadership character.

“AKP has the psychology of rage against what is standing against them,” he added.

When thinking of Erdoğan’s rivals, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu and Selahattin Demirtaş, they used a more moderate tone in their election campaigns, Ağırdır said there was not enough time.

“[It did not work in the polls]...