A CHP that designs its entire discourse and opposition relying solely upon "secularism" and attempting to garner political benefit from incessantly disturbing the sensitivities of certain segments of society and injecting artificial fears into that society could only deserve criticism. One can do nothing but be critical of a CHP that, instead of working towards securing political power through civil politics, nurtures the hope of doing so through anti-democratic interventions geared to narrow the sphere of civilian politics, although this would inevitably affects itself as well, due to it being a political party. A CHP that cares more about the interests of the status quo than the requirements of democracy and upholds power rather than what is right would receive nothing but anger from lovers of democracy. It would not be considered unfair to say that a CHP that does care a straw for the nation's sensitivities, that takes the side of the autocratic state which ravishes individual rights and freedoms and that steers clear of civilians but embraces the military and the official does nothing good to democratic politics but rather undermines it.
When the CHP advocated military coups/interventions against democracy, the state against the nation, and supported a repressive, totalitarian strand of secularism in opposition to the liberal concept of secularism, this would inevitably entail its criticism. Moreover, the CHP's advocacy for the bloody Ergenekon terrorist organization -- which was involved in many illegal acts and almost all cases of mysterious murders/assassinations and which was at the center of all kinds of malediction in close cooperation with the deep state -- would naturally bring a fusillade of critical remarks.
When its efforts to push the military into the sphere of civilian politics, to incite it to intervention and to corner the government by calling the top judiciary, the Higher Education Board (YÖK), and top bureaucrats to arms all failed, the CHP, it seems, has realized that it must return to the proper manner of conducting an opposition. During the last week, the CHP's politicians were busy substantiating claims about ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Şaban Dişli's involvement in a bribery case, which I want to regard as the CHP's attempt to return to a proper style of opposition.
Of course, I don't know whether the CHP's claim that Dişli was paid $1 million as a bribe for meddling with development plans in order to increase the value of a plot of is correct or not. In this respect, the CHP is repeating uninterruptedly its claims and accusations. And Dişli continues to defend himself, though not in a satisfactory manner. We are not here to discuss whether Dişli is innocent or not. We intend to discuss the CHP's opposition mentality. By bringing a claim about a corruption or bribery case -- true or not -- to the agenda, the CHP, it seems to me, is for the first time on the proper track of properly exerting opposition efforts. What else would Turkish society, politics and democracy expect a main opposition party to do?
In developing countries such as Turkey, where not all decision-making processes and financial activities have acquired transparency, cases of fraud and corruption can be seen in large numbers. For this reason Turkey and such countries rank higher in international reports on lack of transparency and corruption. For this reason, in the countries that claim to have functioning democracies, though not at a satisfactory level, such as Turkey, it is more proper and beneficial for opposition parties to focus on cases of fraud and corruption instead of nurturing disputes about regime and false fears.
Even if this comes after exhausting all non-political methods for accessing political power, the CHP's current comeback to the proper manner of opposition should be seen as an important move. I hope this first move by the CHP toward acting like a true main opposition party will not be crippled by the claims of corruption voiced against itself -- such as funds transferred to Kanaltürk and Halk TV - but will evolve into a much more functional mode, forcing the government into doing things in a proper manner and producing more benefits for the public.
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