Noting that it is not fair to blame CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for the turbulence the party is in, Star columnist Fehmi Koru points to the members of the opposition as the main problem of the party. “Although it seems unaware of this fact, the CHP encompasses a variety of differing identities and ideologies under the same roof. And when it’s time for the party leader to take a stance on a certain issue or make an important decision, the conflicting sides within the party raise their voices. This has been the main cause of the party’s internal conflicts and of its failure to come to power,” notes Koru. He also explains the matter by referencing a survey the Ankara-based MetroPOLL conducted in November 2011. “According to the results of this survey, the people polled, who were asked why they would vote for the CHP, replied ‘Because it is a Kemalist party,’ ‘Because it is a left-wing, social democrat party’ and ‘Because it is a nationalist party’ in almost equal measure. On top of that, when asked ‘What, in your opinion, should the CHP’s stance be?’ the same answers were given in again almost equal measure. And finally, when asked ‘How would you define yourself in terms of ideology?’ 35 percent of all respondents who voted for the CHP in the last elections said ‘Kemalist,’ while 16.4 percent replied ‘social democrat’ and 11.5 percent said ‘nationalist’,” says Koru.
Considering how varied and distinct the ideologies represented within the CHP are, Koru says, we can even say that the CHP actually did quite well by garnering about 25 percent of the vote in the last elections.
Bugün’s Ahmet Taşgetiren starts his article by saying that CHP congresses have always been known as congresses that reach no conclusion or consensus. Terming party congresses as the heart of any party, since they indicate how a party leads itself and thereby signal how it would lead the country if it were to come to power, Taşgetiren underscores that the CHP has always failed this particular test. But before finding a solution to a deadlocked congress, we have to first know why the party does not emerge from any of these congresses with a conclusion. “It is because the CHP primarily needs a congress to choose its ideology. It does not have a specific stance on any issue, and it does not know what its stance will be in the Turkey of 2012. ”
If you begin a game without first making a plan, you’ll get confused at every turn. And when you get confused and panic, you mess everything up. That is why, Taşgetiren says, the CHP should first hold an “ideology congress” to clearly set out its ideology and political stance.
