The silence of the lambs...

Of course, we are not talking about the 1991 film “The Silence of the Lambs”*, which left its mark on the history of world cinema, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.

Our concern is the silence of the CHP!

The issue is not Özgür Özel jumping around at rallies or the countless party congresses to criticize the government, engaging in his own brand of rhetoric, chanting slogans, or trying to appease the nation with songs and folk tunes; nor is it his bombastic speeches, which have lost their value because he repeats the same things over and over.

These are merely clever camouflage used to distract the eyes and attention of our people from everything he should actually be saying.

It is nothing but empty noise, nothing more!

Yet, the Kurdish nationalists, who have carved out space for themselves through a thousand and one bargains to extend Tayyip Erdoğan's political life, have literally taken the bit between their teeth.

Let's take a look at the recent days:

DEM Party member Pervin Buldan, forgetting that she is a Deputy Speaker of Parliament and acting as a courier for İmralı, made a statement to the effect that “Öcalan wants the government to silence opposition voices”; another DEM member, Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit, referred to martyrs as “corpses”; but even more painful and grave was Sırrı Sakık, who directly targeted and insulted Atatürk and the CHP, saying, “Do you know what true baseness is? Those who ignore the Kurds after building the country together are base. Those who ban a people's language are base. Those who usurp the rights of a people are base.”

That wasn't enough; they stirred up the streets. In Diyarbakır, they organized a march for Öcalan demanding the “Right to Hope.” Slogans of “Biji Serok Apo” filled the air!

It is not just them; if the DEM members are fired up, can the government stay behind? Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş went out and read a poem in Kurdish at the opening of the academic year at Dicle University.

In other words, those in this neighborhood, both the Kurdish nationalists and the Islamists, are persevering. Every day, they are gaining ground toward an ummah-based federation.

On the other side, there is a bashful CHP that claims to carry Atatürk's legacy but chooses to swallow its words and sentences when it comes to actually defending that legacy. Not a condemnation, not a warning, not a distancing...

As if those words were never spoken, as if those events never happened!

Not a peep.

I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing!

The argument in Parliament between Turhan Çömez and Pervin Buldan held a mirror to the issue. Let us underline the reaction shown by Turhan Çömez with the words, “While our young soldiers are being martyred... we will not be on the same side as those who call them ‘corpses’!”

Ironically, this statement pointed to the mission of the CHP. But the issue was that the reaction in question was given by a representative of another party, not by the CHP members.

The silence of the CHP is so deep that others are now reminding them of the historical values they should be defending.

The party has handed over the intellectual treasure represented by its own roots to others.

Let us write it clearly:

This is not just a political vacuum; it is a state of mental surrender.

Let us note in the ledger of history that a party which has placed being the “guardian of the Republic” at the center of its political identity is now remaining silent in the face of this dirty language, persistently and stubbornly closing its eyes to those who openly challenge the Republic.

Could Özgür Özel be adopting the silence of the lambs and performing a tactical maneuver of his own because he thinks that unless he pleases the Kurdish nationalists, the imperialists will not grant him power, or because he thinks he might accidentally get three or five more votes by appearing charming to the Kurds?

If he is waiting for the approval of imperialism to come to power, then God help us all. But if he is playing to the Kurdish electorate instead of consolidating his own base, he should not get his hopes up; even if the two worlds were to collide, the Kurds would not vote for the CHP. If there is no DEM, they will go and stamp their seal for the AKP. Anyone who has read even a little bit about Kurdish political behavior or Kurdish sociology knows this.

Let no one come out and say that a “city consensus” was made in the local elections. We all saw the results of the concessions given to the Kurdish nationalists in return for this consensus during the DİSK protest in İzmir. They have taken advantage of this to occupy every place they could in the big cities.

If this is the case, what will they base their bargaining on in the Presidential and parliamentary elections; will they say, “Support us and in return we will make you a partner in the title deed of the country,” or “Take the whole title deed, just let us see a CHP government in our final days”?

The Stratfor reports leaked by WikiLeaks in 2010 made everything crystal clear:

“The CHP's genes are changing, and this means the transformation of the Kemalist Turkish state.”, “Transforming the CHP is transforming the state.”

This is the real reason for Özgür Özel's “silence,” hidden between the lines of this report. Let's be honest and speak the truth; this silence is not just a tactic, but also a sign of the deep ideological confusion and even collapse within the CHP.

Unfortunately, we see that the party that founded the Republic is now incapable of even discussing its own identity.

Özgür Özel mentions Atatürk's name whenever he is in a tight spot, but he hesitates to express the political claim he represents!

In short, this is a portrait of a CHP that is anxious about appearing “Republican.”

It is a cautionary tale that the CHP, which once established its ideological difference from those who said “the hill of martyrs will not remain empty” through “language,” now chooses to remain outside of that language as well. Because this is not just a political silence; it is a silence that distances itself from national sentiments and severs its ties with its own past.

Unfortunately, “ignoring” the spectacle to remain outside the language used by the government has become the new reflex of the CHP leadership. Yet, this reflex is not a politically clever maneuver; it is a harbinger of a historical rupture. From its roots, its philosophy, and everything that makes the CHP the CHP!

When criticized a little, they go on the defensive, saying, “We are not excluding anyone, we are establishing a language of peace.”

However, the “language of peace” has gradually turned into a language of “non-reaction.” And non-reaction has become a habit, not a strategy. Interestingly, no one within the party questions this either. The deputies seem to have dug trenches and won't even stick their noses out.

Some say, “Let the alliance balances not be disturbed,” others say, “If we respond to these statements, we will be playing into the government's hands.”

While they engage in wordplay, the fundamental pillars of the Republic are shaking, and who cares!

Unfortunately, the CHP is experiencing one of the most identity-less periods in its history today.

On one hand, the claim to expand its social base with the “new CHP” rhetoric, and on the other, the tendency to move away from the fundamental values of the Republic.

These two directions are in a brutal contradiction with each other. And that contradiction returns to the party as a heavy burden of “meaninglessness.” Because the CHP is now opposing not only the government but also its own history.

The party's leadership cadre was cautious even when mentioning Atatürk's name on the 100th anniversary of the Republic.

Principles such as secularism, populism, statism, and revolutionism are either not discussed at all or are portrayed as “remnants of the old Turkey.” Yet, these very principles are the ideas that make the CHP the CHP, the very ideas that have guided this country.

Now, as it moves away from those ideas, the party is also fading politically. It stands before us as an empty shell that appears to be rising conjuncturally.

This party, which is the heir to the founding ideology, acts as if it is ashamed. Those who target that legacy fill the stage by saying, “We are facing the truth.”

The biggest mistake the CHP is making today is forgetting that “defending the Republic” is not an ideological position, but a social and, more importantly, a historical responsibility.

Because the Republic is not just a political preference of a certain era; it is the common living contract of this country; it is the cement of its unity and integrity.

When this contract is questioned, if the CHP remains silent, who will speak?

Who will say, “We are here”?

Who will be able to say, “This country stands thanks to the Republic”?

*The Silence of the Lambs