It has been proven by the facts that have occurred especially since 2007 that the AKP government emulates the monarchical and theocratic structure of the Ottoman Empire and, in this sense, is positioned at a point opposed to the republic based on popular sovereignty.
In this context, AKP emphasizes the separation of powers between the legislature, executive and judiciary; independent judiciary; freedom of expression, publication, media and association; It has practically abolished secularism from practice and violated the 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 24th, 25th, 26th, 28th, 34th, 42nd, 138th, 148th articles of the constitution.
Turkey has experienced, and continues to experience, hundreds of examples since 2007 of the AKP's violation of these articles of the constitution, and therefore of its violation of the Political Parties Law, which requires political parties' adherence to the constitution as a prerequisite.
This neo-Ottomanist approach of the AKP also brought with it the conquest and plunder mentality of the Ottoman Empire. The AKP government sees all institutions that represent the founding principles of the Republic of Türkiye and the state of the Republic of Türkiye as an object to be conquered and opposed to itself.
After completing this conquest, AKP puts an end to the conquest by sharing the spoils among itself and identifying the conquered place with itself, in other words, by identifying the state and its institutions with itself, and by marketing the state and the government as identical elements.
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In this conquest process, there is no element such as the sovereignty of the people, the sovereignty of the nation, the sovereignty of the people, or the republic; the sovereignty of the people is used only as a rhetorical discourse, as a mask and camouflage.
The AKP, which talked about conquering the hearts of the nation when it came to power in 2002, decided to conquer the votes of the nation and the free will of the nation when it realized that it was no longer in the hearts of the majority of the nation!
The pressures, detention trials and dismissals against mayors and municipal council members elected by the votes of tens of millions of citizens, and dozens of journalists, writers, politicians, academics and artists who are the voice of citizens, people, nation and the republic are a result of this.
The conquestism that comes to the fore in this monarchical and theocratic framework is also nourished by a deep dogmatism. In this conquest system, sovereignty belongs not to the people, the nation, or the republic, but to the sultan, grand vizier, vizier, caliph, sheikhulislama, and ulema, as in the Ottoman Empire. It is an absolute taboo to question their sovereignty and to bring into play the sovereignty of the people, the nation, the republic and the citizen as a result of questioning their sovereignty. The sovereignty and dominance of the sultan, grand vizier, vizier, caliph, sheikh al-Islam and ulama is an unquestionable dogma.
This understanding collapsed with the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789; The sovereignty and sovereignty of the king, queen, pope, cardinal, archbishop, and landlord have disappeared; A great step has been taken to put into effect the sovereignty of the people, the nation and the republic. This questioning perspective was also adopted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and thus the Republic of Türkiye was established.
The Republic of Türkiye was established by eliminating a dogma that lasted hundreds of years. Philosophers such as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, François-Marie Arouet, David Hume, Adam Smith, Denis Diderot, Paul D'Holbach, Jean D'Alembert played the biggest role in the destruction of this dogma.
This is one of the reasons why in Turkey, both education in general and philosophy in particular, especially politics, social and moral philosophy, are being dragged out in places and attempts are being made to drown them with fundamentalist and/or post-modern fallacies.
In an environment where dogmas are not questioned, no revolutionary development can be achieved towards the progress of society. Thus, the power of the status quo and conservative groups who struggled to preserve the Ottoman Empire continued for a while, as long as historical conditions allowed.
