Some political observers evaluated his talk as an admission of “the death of the left in Turkey.” I can’t say that I agree with these comments. For what has died in this country is neither the need felt for a true and libertarian left, nor the longing for universal leftist values. Something that the need is felt for, something that is longed for cannot die. But if there’s something that has died or is dying, then it is the politburo mentality of those who think that by saying “left” they have become leftists, who are in their actions and words absolute fascists and fans of the established order, disconnected from the public, looking down upon the people from a height, who completely disregard the public’s values and demands and who instead of stepping down to society prefer to walk arm in arm with those focal points of anti-democratic power in Ankara.If you’d like, let’s take a look at what it is that Kılıçdaroğlu said. He has finally been able to understand, even if based on the wrong conjectures, that there is a problem in terms of the left in Turkey. In his talk, which set off debates about the left again, Kılıçdaroğlu said that the left was disconnected from the public and unions and that it was necessary to exert efforts to put an end to this situation immediately; he also said that if a political party didn’t have youthful members, then it also did not have a future. Kılıçdaroğlu continued: “Political party members must become like militants, must work like militants. And militantization can be achieved through youth. ... Outside of the CHP, the left in Turkey has died. There is no left, and the right is strong; for this reason, we’re moving toward the right. Because we must get votes, who are we going to get them from? There’s no left path to be seen...”
Also asserting that in its next congress, the CHP would amend its party charter and that the CHP would gain strength through these changes, Kılıçdaroğlu said: “The sole measure of success is coming to power. ... A party that does not promise hope for wide swathes of society cannot come to power. We sat around, read newspapers in our warm homes. There are sociological gaps in Ankara. Did we say, ‘Let’s go to the other side of Ankara?’ Did we go to be the guests of a family in Altındağ or have them as guests? They are doing these things, and we aren’t. We’ve grown used to comfort and going on holiday.”
Now, let’s ask Kılıçdaroğlu -- the sincerity of whose words I believe in -- when the whole world says left, what comes to mind? Youth, of course (at the very least, ideological youth), dynamism, innovation and the desire for change; as an inevitable part of this desire for change, democratic rebellion targeting the established order; the quest for equality, freedom, fraternity and justice, universality, peace-loving and so on. And which of these, you ask, does the CHP -- which Kılıçdaroğlu asserts is the only leftist party remaining in Turkey -- represent? With a leader aged 72 in a nation where the average life expectancy is 72 who has surrounded himself by a team who, while perhaps youthful in comparison with himself, is still aged above an average 65 years, how can such a political party expect to have any shot at inspiring hope in a society whose average age is 28? Let’s forget about inspiring hope, is there any chance of them being able to pick up on and share in the excitement, expectations, desires for change and innovation of such a young and dynamic population?
Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu both detected the problem and found the solution. Setting aside his fallacy that the CHP is still a leftist party, do you think that a party such as this, which is constantly struggling against the public, condescends upon and offends the public’s values, could have the courage to go down into the streets? Indeed, how could the representatives of such a party find the courage to go out into the streets, and what would they say to the public?
For example, are they going to explain how they prepared the ground for the Constitutional Court to go so far as to ignore the Constitution for which it is responsible, overstepping the boundaries of its authority and ignoring the public will, to issue illegal, undemocratic verdicts? Are they going to explain the shameful 367 requirement that they made up during the presidential election? Or do they plan to explain how they defended like lions the headscarf ban that blocks the right to university education and the coefficient regulations that prevent those from the lower social classes from entering university regardless of their test performance? Will they explain their opposition to the amendment, further democratization and civilianization of the Constitution, which is a product of the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup and institutionalizes military tutelage by fitting an iron corset onto politics and society?
Or are they going to knock on the doors of the poor in Altındağ and explain to them why the CHP speaks condescendingly of them, calling them jarheads? For whatever reason, the CHP is always strongest in the richest, most elite, most luxurious parts of town; if they were able to manage going out amongst the larger public, what would they even have to say? Are they going to explain why they oppose the Ergenekon investigation that is putting on trial those responsible for unsolved murders, assassinations and plans to create chaos, who ignore the will of the people by plotting coups against the elected government? Or are they going to explain why they ignore military coup plans, fail to speak out against military intervention in politics and had not a single word to say against the April 27, 2007 memorandum? Or do they plan to explain to the public without any feeling of shame why, in Parliament, they are constantly going to the podium and threatening the elected government with military intervention and invoking the power of the high judiciary?
What can be called the left must be peaceful and oppose racism. If Kılıçdaroğlu’s words are to be taken seriously, then in the event that he’s asserting that the CHP is the only leftist party in Turkey, then why do they avoid regions heavily populated by Kurds, why aren’t they able to elect deputies and mayors in these regions, why are they always agitating to promote cross-border military operations, even going so far as to criticize the military that they love so much when it chooses to end such operations early? Why are they so adamantly opposed to the democratic initiative in Turkey, which aims to embrace all in Turkey as first-class citizens regardless of ethnic background and give them freedoms? If it isn’t too much trouble, can the CHP explain why they so shamelessly defend the massacre of Alevis in Tunceli in the 1930s? Also, can the CHP explain why they oppose the normalization of relations with Armenia?
A recommendation for Kılıçdaroğlu: Without the CHP facing up to the fascist political perversities, which I’m nearly certain are part of its genetic makeup, its archaic and antidemocratic state mechanism’s politburo appearance, you can neither be saved by a change to your party charter, nor become a true leftist party.
