Kılıçdaroğlu, a CHP deputy who has boosted his popularity with polemics in the recent past, was accompanied by Gürsel Tekin, the head of the CHP's İstanbul branch, and Professor Alper Ünlü. I was not surprised when Tekin said, "We would like to start our visits to the press with a visit to Zaman." Indeed, all the bold initiatives launched recently by the CHP have been masterminded by Tekin. It was him who devised the chador initiative. When he paid a visit to Zaman a few months ago, we had a talk about how left-wing parties can make peace with devout people. I had heard from him about what Nur Serter, who had been so ruthless against the headscarf as a lecturer, had gone through during this initiative. He had also told me that when they visited the family of a martyr, they had seen women wearing the headscarf and portraits of Atatürk hanging on the wall in the sitting room, upon which he had turned toward Serter and asked, "Can you say that these people have problems with Atatürk?"
As we were talking in this most recent visit with Kılıçdaroğlu, who has now launched his election campaign, I asked him a question that has been occupying my mind for some time: "The general public has seen you dealing with corruption cases frequently. Now you are running to become a mayor and seeking the support of the voters. Will we see you addressing the projects you will develop for İstanbul and explaining them to the voters in İstanbul?"
Kılıçdaroğlu tends to speak in a civilized and calm manner and that is how he answered my question. He said they have prepared projects for İstanbul. Interestingly, he noted that İstanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş had undertaken very important services and that some projects must be maintained without any change, as it would be unfortunate to keep those projects waiting on the shelves. This approach certainly goes beyond the typical CHP policies. Kılıçdaroğlu is talking about a race to provide better services, while the typical CHP attitude can be summarized as "object to everything done by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)." Kılıçdaroğlu also commented on a small detail and said that İstanbul has made great progress with regard to marine transportation. This, too, is true. The improvement in the services provided by İstanbul Seabuses and Fast Ferries Inc. deserves appreciation. Kılıçdaroğlu's acknowledgement is a sign of political maturity and an extension of the positive opposition mentality introduced by the CHP's İstanbul branch.
The course of our conversation carried us to matters outside of İstanbul politics. I said to them that the CHP had been pursuing its policies with an attitude of open confrontation to religious beliefs and symbols, which in turn causes great disappointment in the nation. This is really the case. The CHP's focus on an irrational policy with regard to the 367 quorum debates, the support expressed by the senior party executives for the 2007 e-memorandum, its failure to distance itself from pro-junta organizations, its hand in making the headscarf issue insolvable by appealing the constitutional amendments passed by Parliament to end the headscarf ban with the backing of 411 deputies, its appeal to the judiciary to have student scholarships cancelled and other policies have discouraged people from supporting the party.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who discovered on the spot the conciliatory style in the İstanbul organization, said that he would like to embrace everyone and that he was happy to see women wearing the headscarf join the party. Instead of voicing harsh words about Topbaş, he opted to explain that he would do good things for İstanbul, which is the correct strategy. Indeed, people do not want to see politicians engage in battle, but produce services. This is the mentality adopted by the İstanbul CHP branch, which pursues methods differently from the deputies selected by the party organizations. If the party's headquarters in Ankara quits pursuing policies that rely on discriminating against devout people and complies with the new style developed in İstanbul --indeed, Deniz Baykal had once promoted this years ago and advocated a secularism that was at peace with beliefs -- the party will be saved from its current condition.
Kılıçdaroğlu praised the intellectual wealth of Zaman. He said that Zaman's commentary pages successfully gave room to pluralistic thought, thereby filling the intellectual gap in the right wing. By making these comments, he showed his aptitude for the appreciation of merit. I did not tell this to him, but it crossed my mind: Can the papers that regard themselves as left-wing intellectual newspapers show the interest and fairness we showed to Kılıçdaroğlu to Topbaş? I think we need politeness and tolerance not only in politics, but also in every part of life. When we become aware of this, this will save not only the CHP, but also Turkey.
