It is not just the government that is decaying

News that CHP Aydın Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu is preparing to switch to the AKP, and is forcing municipal workers and some district heads to resign from the CHP, has hit the agenda like a bombshell.

Yet, we were so nicely preoccupied with the Abdullah Öcalan Commission in Parliament, the contortions Özgür Özel is performing to convince opposition voters, the Zangezur Corridor that Trump has set his sights on, shedding tears for our burning forests, and pondering Bahçeli's "subtle messages," when someone started throwing wood under the political cauldron.

Let's not beat around the bush. Özlem Çerçioğlu will most likely pin an "AK Party" badge on her lapel today.

According to the local press, she is taking the mayors of Sultanhisar and Yenipazar with her. As for the Söke Mayor, they say it is "just around the corner."

It is not hard to guess the reason.

The corruption allegations against her were already rampant. The Aydın Metropolitan Municipality had long been on the government's radar.

Sooner or later, they were going to hook her, and they did.

Özlem Çerçioğlu is now switching to the AKP in exchange for the closure of the files against her. Mayors who think their "backsides are dirty" will follow in her footsteps. Let no one have any doubts.

Are we surprised? No...

But Özgür Özel is very surprised. As if he never expected it. After visiting İmamoğlu, he hardened his stance significantly upon leaving Silivri.

"When there are so many brave men lying inside against this injustice, if you cannot show this bravery... If you are acting with the formula of 'either get thrown inside or join the AK Party,' then shame on you."

Do you laugh or cry!

One would ask the man: You have been in politics for so many years; with investigations into the Aydın Metropolitan Municipality sitting right there, with allegations and rumors running wild, and with the situation having turned into a cesspool, so to speak, did you never foresee that this could happen?

Furthermore, veteran journalist Mine Kırıkkanat, in her article dated October 22, 2023, had explained in detail the schemes going on in the Aydın Metropolitan Municipality.

The allegations she penned were not something to be taken lightly. The situation had become a mess, and Özlem Çerçioğlu had caused an uproar because her true colors were revealed.

Let no one say, "We didn't know." Not just the management staff, but everyone within the party knew what was happening.

Despite all this, the CHP re-nominated Özlem Çerçioğlu in the local elections on March 31, 2024.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had made the announcement, "In the coming period, our Mayor Özlem will continue her duty as the Mayor of Aydın Metropolitan Municipality," without even asking the party's authorized boards, and with seven months still left until the election.

Was Özgür Özel living in space at that time, so he did not object to this?

He was the CHP's Group Deputy Chairman. He was effectively the party's second-in-command, influential and authorized. He was in the best position to know what was going on in Aydın; so why didn't he stand before his Chairman and say, "There are such serious allegations against her. Let us find another candidate for Aydın."?

He didn't, he couldn't, because Özlem Çerçioğlu was Kılıçdaroğlu's princess.

Everyone knew he wouldn't let a speck of dust touch her.

While there was the opportunity to prepare for these days in the warm cocoon at Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's feet, there was no point in causing trouble for no reason!

Now that the market is in turmoil, CHP Deputy Chairman Gökhan Zeybek has said something to the effect that Özlem Çerçioğlu "cannot show her face in public."

Let him not worry at all; just as Numan Kurtulmuş, Süleyman Soylu, Mehmet Ali Çelebi, and others who turned the rudder to the AKP for their personal ambitions show their faces in public without shame or embarrassment, and even engage in politics as they see fit, Özlem Çerçioğlu will follow the same path.

There is a quote by Murathan Mungan that he said in an interview and is now used as an aphorism:

"You can be anything in Turkey, but you cannot be one thing: you cannot be disgraced."

Later, in his book *Hayat Atölyesi* (Life Workshop), he wrote, "In a country where memories are set to 24 hours, you cannot be disgraced even if you want to be."

Özlem Çerçioğlu must also be relying on the goldfish memory of our people.

The country has been decaying and degenerating at great speed since 2002. Incompetence, nepotism, kakistocracy, lack of quality, shamelessness, and audacity have now become our normal.

Unfortunately, the CHP, to which millions who have lost faith in political Islamists have pinned their hopes, is not exempt from this either.

One must start the cleaning from the one who will do the actual cleaning.

As Şebnem Ferah sang: Start over...