The Nirvana of Political Short-Sightedness

Politics is a matter of making claims. Those who enter politics do so because they claim that they are the best at what they do; they aspire to power. Politics is the claim that ‘we can govern the country better than anyone else’ and ‘we serve the people best’.

So, do we see such a claim in Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu—who was appointed as CHP Leader following a nullification ruling—and his team? There are some feeble statements, but the main objective is not to come to power but to purify the party. In other words, we are seeing policies implemented based on the central idea that the CHP under Özgür Özel’s leadership has become tainted and needs to be cleansed. This implies that the CHP, which has been placed under administration by a trustee, shares the same views as the government and believes that the CHP leadership elected at the party congress is corrupt or guilty, both nationally and locally; and it is precisely this situation that is severing all ties between the two sides.

Refusing to consider any of Özel’s proposals reinforces the perception among the public that Kılıçdaroğlu is merely a puppet. Özel’s proposal to hold a party congress was met with ‘No, that won’t do’; his suggestion to appoint a convening committee was met with ‘No, that’s out of the question’; and his offer to hold a leadership election involving all members was met with ‘No, no, that won’t do either’. This is nothing other than an attempt to prevent Özel and his team from existing within the CHP and engaging in politics.

So what will happen next?

Naturally, Özel and his team will seek a new path; they will be forced to leave the party and establish a new one. The fact that the new party, according to opinion polls, is set to become the leading party demonstrates just how meaningless and inconsistent Kılıçdaroğlu’s question—‘on what grounds are they leaving the party?’—is in this context.

For some reason, Kılıçdaroğlu and his supporters simply cannot see or understand that they are harming the CHP led by Özgür Özel, which is on the march to power. Yet the polls speak for themselves. If the CHP under Mr Kemal’s leadership is failing to clear the electoral threshold, whilst the CHP under Mr Özgür’s leadership is set to become Turkey’s leading party, what is expected of Mr Kemal is to, in a sincere and consistent manner, hand the party back to those who will bring it to power, or to call a party congress or leadership election without delay to ensure this happens. Otherwise, Özel and his team will be forced to form a new party. In this scenario, it is inevitable that Mr Kılıçdaroğlu and his team will find themselves in a position where they are completely erased from the political landscape and from the hearts of the people. Kılıçdaroğlu may retain control of the CHP for a certain period, but there is no limit to what they stand to lose. It is impossible to continue on this path with a leader and political philosophy that is politically finished, having knowingly or unknowingly supported those in power, labelled as a ‘butlancı’, reduced to a state where they cannot even face the public, and so utterly detached from reality and the people.

Whilst there is still time, Kılıçdaroğlu must abandon his stubbornness, step down from the CHP, choose democracy and bring relief to Turkey. Otherwise, Kılıçdaroğlu and his supporters will be remembered as those who reached the ‘Nirvana’ of political short-sightedness and who reduced Atatürk’s party to around 5 per cent in the first election, and they will take their place as a black mark in Turkish political history.