Liberal Party Spokesperson Engin Avcı Questions Democracy After Üsküdar Council Vote

Liberal Party spokesperson Engin Avcı has raised concerns over the Üsküdar Municipal Council’s deputy mayor election, focusing on democratic legitimacy, the rule of law and respect for election results.

Liberal Party spokesperson Engin Avcı has issued a statement concerning the controversy surrounding the deputy mayor election at the Üsküdar Municipal Council, emphasizing the importance of democratic legitimacy, legal principles and respect for electoral outcomes.

Drawing a historical comparison with political developments in Germany in 1933, Avcı argued that the lessons of history should not be limited to the outcomes of political events, but should also include the methods used to reach those outcomes.

Liberal Party spokesperson Engin Avcı said:

History sometimes reminds us not of the same events, but of the same methods.

In Germany in 1933, Hitler was heading toward a critical vote in the Reichstag while a significant part of the opposition had been arrested or prevented from taking part in parliamentary proceedings. Votes conducted under pressure and subsequent legal arrangements ultimately helped remove, one by one, the obstacles standing in the government’s way.

What is happening today around the election of the deputy mayor at the Üsküdar Municipal Council inevitably raises the following question: Can an election be repeated until the desired result is obtained? Moreover, the fact that members of the council who could influence the outcome have been arrested during the process makes this question even more significant.

Of course, it would be historically inaccurate to put today’s Türkiye and Germany in 1933 on the same footing. But that is precisely the point from a democratic perspective: History should be learned from not only after the outcomes are the same, but when dangerous similarities emerge in the methods being used.

If the idea attributed to Machiavelli that “the ends justify the means” becomes the guiding principle of politics, elections, the rule of law and democracy risk being reduced to mere instruments for achieving a predetermined outcome.

The true measure of democracy is not whether those in power obtain the result they want, but whether they can respect a result they do not want.

Avcı’s statement has brought renewed attention to the debate over the Üsküdar Municipal Council’s deputy mayor election, particularly regarding the conduct of elections, the position of council members and the protection of democratic representation.

The Liberal Party spokesperson placed particular emphasis on the principle that democratic will must be respected even when an election produces a result that those in power did not expect or want.