Gökçek vs Arınç Spat Causes “Unrest” Amid AKP Grassroots

A full-blown spat between Vice PM Arınç and Ankara Mayor Gökçek after President Erdoğan’s comments on Turkey’s resolution process revealed a transition of power that caused unrest amid ruling party AKP grassroots, according to academician.

The incident dates back to March 20 when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a negative comment on a possible monitoring committee to the resolution process of the Kurdish problem. 

“I read everything in the newspapers and I have no idea about such thing,” Erdoğan said. “I don’t look at such [monitoring committee] positively. When I was serving as PM, I wasn’t positive for having some wise people council members to join the [negotiation process]. And I am repeating the same thing now,” Erdoğan said. 

Arınç: "We have a government here"

Erdoğan’s comments, on the other hand, were reacted by Cabinet Spokesperson and Vice PM Bülent Arınç on March 21. 

“As the government, we are determined about the monitoring committee. We believe that it will be useful. Such statement must not leave a doubt on that…Our President’s words might lead to criticism, make him upset. Our President might be deformed by his words,” Arınç said.  

On the night of the same day, Erdoğan responded to Arınç, reiterating that “he didn’t approve the meeting leading to Dolmabahçe declaration. 

Upon that, Arınç made another statement the next day, raising his critical tone towards Erdoğan: “We love our President and we acknowledge his power but don’t forget that we have a government here.” 

Gökçek called Arınç to resign 

Subsequently on March 23, Ankara Metropolitan Mayot Melih Gökçek joined the debate by posting 31 tweets backing President  Erdoğan and calling Vice PM Arınç to resign.

Gökçek claimed that Arınç’s daughter and son-in-law were “fanatical” members of Gülen Movement and Arınç’s criticism on Erdoğan was ordered by Gülen’s “parallel state” - an organization allegedly orchestrated the Corruption Probe and led to the resignation of Erdoğan government’s 3 ministers in 2013.  

“He [Arınç] can’t be AKP’s spokesperson anymore, he can’t represent us, he must be dismissed…He must resign from his cabinet spokesperson and Vice PM position. Bülent Arınç, we don’t want you,” he wrote on Twitter. 

“Gökçek sat on the lap of this parallel structure”

On March 23, Arınç enraged towards Gökçek’s comments, saying that his words were inappropriate.

“I would like to talk about 100 issues about Gökçek after the elections. We know who will bark when and what kind of things they want. If you want, I can give you a letter on this and you open it up after the elections…Gökçek sat on the lap of this parallel structure and he sold it parcel by parcel,” Arınç claimed. 

Later on that day, Gökçek slammed Arınç’s comments, saying that he would be “honorless” if he didn’t tale legal action. 

The magic in AKP is gone?

“The disagreement between the government and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over the Monitoring Committee can be explained by a transition of power, a situation that led to unrest amid Justice and Development Party’s grassroots,” said Vahap Coşkun, an academic from Dicle University. 

“AKP is going towards a period where the magic is gone as columnist Abdülkadir Selvi wrote,” he said. 

He also added that while the current disagreement will not affect the resolution process fundamentally, it could delay it slightly. 

* This article has been compiled from bianet Turkish.