I would like to recall another process that has made the word “initiative” fashionable in politics. Ahead of the last election, Republican People’s Party (CHP) members and supporters visited the places where mainly conservatives lived and posed for photos with them. We had not encountered this before. This situation later came to be known as the “chador initiative.” Women wearing chadors had CHP badges pinned to their clothing, and they were being registered as party members in ceremonies. Even Deniz Baykal took part and gave an all-encompassing speech.Some drew attention to the timing of the chador initiative, labeling it an effort to attract conservative votes to the party. But, to criticize the CHP’s efforts at an early stage would mean adopting a biased approach to the matter at hand. The CHP deserved a chance at least. We needed time to see how the party would use that change because the situation that the chador initiative created was important. Gürsel Tekin, the head of the CHP’s local organization in İstanbul, and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was then running for the office of İstanbul mayor, were the pioneers of the initiative. They were posing in front of cameras with women wearing chadors and men with beards -- who are ostensibly pious.
Even Nur Serter, a symbol of secularists’ annoyance and who is famous for “persuasion rooms” in her career, did not show any sign of being disturbed by being with women wearing chadors. Tekin discussed an interesting incident, which we repeated in this paper. The event was as follows: Tekin, Serter and several party officials visited a family whose child was slain. The woman wore a chador, while her two daughters wore headscarves. Obviously, they were visiting a religious house. When they entered the hall of the house, they saw a big picture of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk hanging on the wall, and Tekin said to Serter, “It does not make any sense to categorize the people of this country and create enemies,” and added, alluding to the picture of Atatürk, “Where would this picture fit in with your categorization?” to which Serter nodded in agreement.
As you will remember, some CHP members were strongly against the chador initiative. You will also remember that we were supportive of it. Today’s Zaman described it as a “mentality revolution” and lent support to it in its headline stories and on the first page. Some leftist hardliners even labeled us “neo-CHP supporters.” Why? Because we supported that initiative. Weren’t we, as journalists, supposed to lend support to the right moves? What mattered was whether the move reinforced human rights and democracy, not who did it, right? Some people did not care about it. They thought that even if the initiative were a right step, we would invariably oppose it. But, at that time, the CHP candidate for mayor of Kocaeli promised to establish a Quran course in every neighborhood. CHP officials even gave away headscarves in some provinces.
Elections are long past. Unfortunately, the CHP has already forgotten about the chador initiative. Perhaps, it may remember it before the next election. Yet, such initiatives should not be started right before election time but should be maintained all the time. The CHP should be able to embrace all people so that politics may become all-encompassing. Meanwhile, the CHP has also offended the Alevis. Kılıçdaroğlu, who has been receiving overwhelming support of the Alevis and the Kurds, lost some support during the Dersim debates. I think Kılıçdaroğlu lost the chance of being the leader of the CHP some day.
Unfortunately, the CHP was unable to continue the initiative. Neither Kılıçdaroğlu nor Tekin can embrace people in the suburbs. The tablet of Sheikh Edebali that Baykal cited was lost inside the headquarters of the party. During the initiative, it was even rumored that a mosque would be established inside the headquarters. Or was it really established without informing the public? Never mind. If only the CHP could revert to the secularist concept of tolerating different faiths and embrace Alevis, Kurds and conservatives and become a party for Turkey in its entirety.
Isn’t this a good development: The CHP raised its voice against the ban on minarets in Switzerland, describing it as a “grave breach of freedom of religion and conscience and human rights.” Wouldn’t it be better if the party becomes just as sensitive inside the country?
