Bülent Arınç, former Speaker of the Turkish Parliament and longtime member of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), suggested in a social media post on Monday (February 13) that Turkey’s upcoming presidential elections be postponed due to the devastation caused by the twin earthquakes that struck southeastern Turkey last Monday (February 6). The election was originally scheduled for June 18, 2023 before it was rescheduled to May 14 by the president last month.
In his post, Arınç said: “The election will not and cannot be held in either May or June. In order for the government bureaucracy to focus on mending the wounds of our citizens, the election must be immediately postponed.” Turkey’s constitution, however, permits the postponement of an election only in the case of war. In an excerpt that was widely shared and ridiculed, Arınç referenced this article of the constitution, saying “There are those who say that the 78th article of our constitution only permits the postponement of an election in the case of war. To these people only one answer is sufficient: yes, this provision exists, but constitutions are not sacred texts, they are legal ones.”
President Erdoğan has yet to either publicly endorse or request the postponement of Turkey’s upcoming polls. Arınç’s post from Monday was seen by some as an attempt for the president’s party to test the waters to see how such a suggestion would be received. Arınç, who served as the Speaker of Parliament from 2002 to 2007 and Deputy Prime Minister from 2009-2015, is retired and no longer holds any official office. The government’s lethargic response to the crisis over the past nine days has caused widespread frustration, with many blaming the atrophy of Turkey’s civil society organizations during Erdoğan’s tenure, relaxed construction oversight in recent years, and centralization of disaster response under one agency (AFAD) as factors that have exacerbated the tragedy and crippled rescue efforts. Frustration with the government response amongst the general public has emerged as an potential electoral vulnerability for Erdoğan and the AKP in recent days, a sentiment which may explain any attempts to delay the contest this spring. While government-supported media has attempted to paint a rosier picture of the disaster response, the reality on the ground is much grimer, with large swaths of affected cities still awaiting basic aid.
Several of Turkey’s opposition leaders responded following Arınç’s post on Monday. Republican People’s Party (CHP) chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, seen by many as the likeliest candidate to challenge President Erdoğan in the upcoming election, described the suggestion as an attempt to escape from the political consequences of the current situation: “Beneath these requests to delay the election is a desire for escapism. They would like to actualize this desire through the YSK [Turkey’s election authority] in order to serve their own special interests. Mr Arınç’s announcement makes this clear.”
Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned former co-leader of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), also released a statement respondıng to Arınç’s post. In a Twıtter post, Demirtaş characterized the election’s potential postponement as a political coup, saying “To simply ignore the parliament and postpone the election would amount to a political coup. The earthquake has been a catastrophe. But it is not a gift from God to allow our transition to a dictatorship. The public will not allow this.”
Regarding the length of a potential postponement, an article by HaberTürk journalist Fatih Altaylı revealed that sources close to the government have indicated that the election could be postponed by between six months and one year. Under the pretense that holding the election in the 10 earthquake-affected provinces is not possible, Altaylı mentioned that the AKP would likely covertly push for a delay in the polls, while the final decision would be made by the Turkey’s election council (YSK).
