Speaking at the candidate introduction meeting of the New Welfare Party (YRP), the party leader Fatih Erbakan emphasized that the spirit of 1994 would be revived.

In the local elections 30 years ago, the Welfare Party (RP) led by Necmettin Erbakan won six of the fifteen metropolitan municipalities; Ankara, Istanbul, Konya, Kayseri, Diyarbakir, and Erzurum, and became the first party in the following general elections, marking a highly dynamic 1990s.

The results of 1994 are still relevant for all parties. In the 1990s, the center-right and center-left could not heal the deep wounds opened by the fascism of September 12, 1980. In the center-right, ANAP and DYP diminished as they clashed with each other. On the center-left, SHP, DSP, and CHP debated unity for years. Before this vicious cycle, RP emerged, followed by the AKP as the ruling power of the 2000s.

Can Fatih Erbakan raise a new Welfare Party?

I posed this question to YRP Deputy Chairman Prof. Dr. Doğan Aydal. His response was:

"Remove Tayyip Erdoğan from the AK Party, and nothing remains. This era is ending. We aspire to be the next ruling power. Our base does not want us to have any collaboration with the AK Party. We are growing rapidly, and we will be talked about more shortly."

Parties, like people, are as big as their goals. It seems that YRP aims to achieve what the DEVA Party and the Future Party could not, drawing voters from the AKP to itself.

We must not forget that the spirit of '94 that Fatih Erbakan aims for also gave rise to Erdoğan.

What spirit will 2024 bring?

2024 will be the gateway to 2028. Regardless of the outcome of the local elections, a different political climate will emerge. The AKP will initiate a new constitution debate, relying on the right spectrum formed in the Parliament. Whether it succeeds or not is not important, just that it takes a step further and the economy does not come to the forefront. Because from April 1st onwards, the season is spring, and the economy is vapor!

During the AKP governments, every election brought with it the expectation of a change in power. The expectation was reversed in the elections of July 22, 2007, where the AKP increased its vote by 13%. Leading up to this election, Zülfü Livaneli, Prof. Dr. Yaşar Nuri Öztürk, and Kemal Derviş, who had entered the Parliament as CHP deputies in the previous election, left CHP for serious reasons. Deniz Baykal, whom we remembered on the anniversary of his death the other day, greatly benefited Turkey with his role in the rejection of the March 1 Memorandum but could not grow CHP into a power alternative.

The 2011 elections were entered with the winds of change blown by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, yet change did not come. The expectation of change grew even more in the June 7, 2015 elections. The AKP lost its power to govern alone. However, for the first time in our history, the fallen government did not like the election results. "The people will correct their mistake," it said, and the election was rerun. On November 1st, the AKP became the sole power again. The system changed in the 2018 and 2023 elections, but the AKP lost its sole majority in the Parliament. Today, the AKP has also lost its ability to give hope to the people.

Each of these processes is a separate topic for an article. At this point, while the CHP needs to create a spirit of change in power from 2024, it seems that it cannot settle the change within itself.

At this stage, the spirit of the times calls for no one!