Politics has different missions in different times and places. Today, we see that politics is the main determinant of social life. Because the nation-state has a structure that is involved in every aspect of life. Having a say in the administration of the state is also possible through politics. This puts politics in a central position. The important point here is whether the policy acts with a mission in line with its purpose.
For our country, the centrality of politics is no less than this. It has even become central to everyday life, apart from the use of state apparatuses. This allows politics to be manipulated. In addition, it is seen that the power of power has ceased to be a tool for maintaining the social rhythm and has become a tool for the interests of the politician's personal or the group to which he belongs. The reasons for this situation stem from political culture and structural problems rather than personal evils.
At the forefront of these structural problems is the identification of the state with power. The fact that the separation between the powers of the state has not been fully established in the institutional sense leads to the identification of the long-term power with the state. This is true both for politicians who use the power of government and for the people who support those politicians. The state can be evaluated at the same point as the executive preferences of those in power. When we consider this situation together with the indisputable sanctity of the state, we can better understand the importance of the problem.
Understanding power in this way will also bring authoritarianism. Because once the government thinks that it is acting on behalf of the state, it cannot accept that its actions are questioned. Such inquiries begin to be perceived as criticism against the state. With this understanding, the opposition's ability to criticize the government weakens. Let's think of this as both external pressure and internal pressure. The ruling party will try to use the state as a shield in front of its government in order to eliminate the criticism of the opposition in the external sense. Internally, the criticisms made will not be fully effective under the fear of weakening the state.
The fact that power is accepted as powerful and indisputable leads to the perception of the aim of politics as the seizure of power. Because seizing power will bring along the use of state opportunities. This is the subconscious truth when using the concept of power blessing. This political understanding is the main reason why nepotism, favoritism, unjust enrichment, loyalty over merit are at the forefront. This is not just a feature to be attributed to a party or a cut. It is the point brought by our general political culture. Because, managing the state since the Ottoman Empire has brought with it to benefit from the opportunities of the state.
We see that in the periods when the oppositions were away from power, they stood against the identification of the government and the state, against authoritarianism and the rude use of state facilities. However, it is a fact of our recent political history that they gradually evolved into such behaviors from the moment they came to power. In order for politics not to turn into such a vicious circle, the negativities of the long ruling period in the last period should set an example for those who aspire to power in the future. They have a lot of data on what not to do for those who will come to power.