Erbakan’s legacy still haunts new SP leadership

SP leader Kurtulmuş, who spoke to Sunday’s Zaman, said: “July 11 is in the past. We are looking at the future by making reinforcements, not discharges.” But supporters of Erbakan, who say they are being excluded from the party, underline that they have enough signatures to call for an extraordinary congress.

Former Justice Minister Şevket Kazan noted that they have been excluded from the party and said Kurtulmuş would pay for this. As for Fatih Erbakan, the son of Necmettin Erbakan, the founding father of Milli Görüş (National View), he went a step further and announced that even if Kurtulmuş apologized he would be removed from his seat in an extraordinary congress.

A source close to Kurtulmuş, briefly explaining how the process of division began in the party, said: “It’s normal for styles to come to the end of their cycle, just like people. Kurtulmuş describes this as ‘innovating without changing.’ To allow the party to continue to grow, he wanted to combine the experience of Erbakan’s colleagues with the dynamism of the younger generation. This in no way meant discharging some people. On the contrary, it was an understanding of consolidation. However, some of our colleagues see this as elimination and are being emotional about it. Fatih Erbakan is talking out of rage with the notion that his father has been betrayed. We do not want to respond to these statements.”

Four parties affiliated with the National View movement, which Erbakan established in 1969, have been closed by military regimes and the Constitutional Court. The July 11 congress of the movement’s fifth party, the SP, was scene to unprecedented incidents. This was the first time two separate lists of nominees competed in the SP in a party congress to elect the new party administration. This was a clear sign that the new line of pro-change groups in the Virtue Party (FP) -- which was shut down during the Feb. 28 period -- have now emerged in the SP as a dominant faction.

What made the congress different is that there were two lists for the General Executive Board (GİK) even though there was only one candidate for the chairmanship of the party. A last-minute list called the “green list” was prepared as an alternative to the “white list” prepared by Kurtulmuş. In both of the lists Kurtulmuş was named as chairman. The only difference between the two lists was the names of six people who had worked with Necmettin Erbakan in the past. After Kurtulmuş said he had nothing to do with the green list, supporters of Erbakan accused Kurtulmuş of forging a list that they had agreed upon after engaging in talks late into the night. A GİK member who said he took part in the pre-congress talks but did not want to disclose his name to prevent the debate from getting even bigger, told Sunday’s Zaman that there was no “consensus list,” which is being used as an excuse to accuse Kurtulmuş of not keeping his word.

Underlining that Kurtulmuş has no intention of eliminating members but seeks to consolidate them, the GİK member said: “If Kurtulmuş, who was elected chairman on Oct. 26, 2008, had any plans of elimination, he would have prepared the groundwork for this over the course of his two years in office. He hasn’t changed a single provincial chairman except for the election of new ones to vacant positions, let alone try to form a delegation that was close to him. Fatih Erbakan was actually on Kurtulmuş’s GİK list until the last half hour. Common sense is in favor of consolidation, not elimination. Our constituent base has recognized Kurtulmuş’s hope of becoming the ruling power and has approved his project to unite experience and dynamism.”

What awaits the SP?

Necmettin Erbakan’s supporters, who believe they have been thrown out of the party, are waiting for the outcome of a petition they filed with the provincial election board for the annulment of the results of the fourth grand congress.

They have already started to collect signatures from delegates for an extraordinary congress just in case the results of the congress are not invalidated. It does not seem like it will be difficult for Erbakan’s supporters to gather the necessary 626 signatures. So what will happen if an extraordinary congress is held? Erbakan’s supporters seem determined to remove SP leader Numan Kurtulmuş from his post. However, the SP headquarters is keeping its distance.

Two possibilities are being discussed at the headquarters. It is believed that if Erbakan’s supporters nominate a candidate in the extraordinary congress, Kurtulmuş will still win. What is difficult is to have in the administration a combination that would include Erbakan’s supporters under Kurtulmuş’s leadership that appeals to both the “nostalgic” sentiment of the delegates who are attached to Erbakan emotionally and at the same time continues the hope and anticipation for change.

The general opinion is that SP leader Kurtulmuş will not work with an administration that includes Erbakan’s supporters. In other words, Kurtulmuş is not going to take a step back, either.

Both sides are trying to influence the developments by appealing to the delegates’ conscience. While Kurtulmuş’s supporters, including Kurtulmuş himself, are not participating in debates, Erbakan’s supporters are appearing on television and talking to newspapers. Kurtulmuş, in reference to Fatih Erbakan’s vow to bring him down, said: “July 11 is in the past. We are looking at the future…” His supporters believe harsh statements coming from Erbakan’s supporters will help the delegates make a sound decision.