Things are going exactly as Özgür Özel wants!

Before Tayyip Erdoğan pressed the button with Trump's approval, we had listed the operations targeting CHP municipalities on March 6, pointed out that the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality would be next in line, and asked, 'Will Ekrem and Mansur being taken out of the game pave the way for Özgür Özel?'

One day after Ekrem İmamoğlu was taken into custody, on March 20, we said, 'With this regional cleanup, Tayyip Erdoğan is actually paving the way for Özgür Özel... Özgür Özel, with his two key strikers out of the game, will 'necessarily' have to take responsibility, say 'One cannot run away from duty,' and try to push the idea to the public that 'What could be more natural than the Chairman's presidential candidacy?'

The ink on those articles has barely dried. But from the developments in recent weeks, we understand that things are going exactly as Özgür Özel wants.

When he first entered Parliament in 2011, he was a very low-profile deputy who would ask journalists in the press corridors where the Planning and Budget Committee was, calling them 'brother'.

He was politically nurtured and raised in a warm cocoon at Kılıçdaroğlu's side, waiting for the right time to emerge.

After gaining the favor of opposition voters with the dressing-down he gave Hulusi Akar, he slowly began to reveal himself.

First, he pulled a fast one on Kılıçdaroğlu.

At the party congress held after the election defeat, he was elected Chairman to replace his political mentor with the support of Ekrem İmamoğlu.

It is clear that there was a bargain in place: 'You make me the presidential candidate, and I will make you the party chairman.'

Then, he waited for the right time again.

Thinking that the way to secure his position passed through Beştepe, he wanted to curry favor with Tayyip Erdoğan as soon as he took his seat, talking about 'softening, normalizing, and warming up' relations.

He tried to define a political space for himself by swinging from right to left and left to right.

However, during this process, he did such absurd things—like kissing the hand of an opera singer who sympathizes with the PKK, organizing a light-flickering protest before dark, failing to reach Taksim despite his promise, showing sensitivity toward the relatives of the traitor Sheikh Said, attempting to grant statehood to Kurdish nationalists, and licking back what he spat after attacking Bahçeli—that he made his own CHP chairmanship a subject of debate, much like receiving a red card from the ruling power.

But Tayyip Erdoğan came to his rescue.

First, Ekrem İmamoğlu's diploma was invalidated, and then an operation was launched against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

Özgür Özel was already looking for an opportunity to break free from Ekrem İmamoğlu's tutelage.

When the streets became active after March 19, he placed his surfboard on this rising wave, as Aytun Çıray put it.

The public was already at the end of their tether.

Like the blind man who asked for one eye and God gave him two, he made excellent use of the fact that the people of this country had finally reached their breaking point.

In the finale, he had his "leadership" certified by the millions he gathered in Maltepe.

Once he was re-elected as Chairman at the extraordinary congress, he must have thought, "it doesn't get any better than this."

Thus, both his chairmanship and his leadership became indisputable.

Whether Ekrem İmamoğlu, who followed all these developments from his prison cell, is now brooding in silence is unknown; but he has likely realized that it was a huge mistake to have bound the delegates and had Özgür Özel elected Chairman at the previous congress.

Even if his tonsils swell from constantly swallowing his pride from now on, it doesn't seem like it will do much good!

If the party congress had been convened before the operations that were clearly coming, and Ekrem İmamoğlu had been elected Chairman, could Tayyip Erdoğan have pressed the button so easily?

Putting a ballot box in front of the nation and making Ekrem İmamoğlu a presidential candidate is just a part of his devious politics. Knowing very well that this is no longer possible due to the cancellation of his diploma, he is calculating how to continue on his path without alienating the opposition base by appearing to be on the side of justice.

The fact that he will be deprived of his political rights one way or another after a while will only play into Özgür Özel's hands.

And what about Mansur Yavaş...

Unfortunately, because he has maintained a low profile from the very beginning, he could not put forward a strong claim. Although he tried to make occasional moves, these were not enough. He did not show as much courage as Özgür Özel and did not take risks.

Will he take them from now on? It cannot be said that he shows much promise.

Therefore, it will not be difficult for him to be sidelined.

If an operation begins against the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality tomorrow or the next day, let us understand that Tayyip Erdoğan is doing the final cleanup for Özgür Özel.

In short, for now, it seems that Özgür Özel will be the CHP's presidential candidate in the first election. Let us conclude our article by saying that, have no doubt, the troll squad within the party will start blowing this issue out of proportion on social media before long.