What the TKP sees, and the CHP cannot...

Özgür Özel continues to infuriate the core base and voters of the CHP—people who are truly Republican, Atatürkist, and genuinely concerned about the country's future.

He has no filter, no pause!

Moreover, he does this knowingly and willingly. He is doing everything in his power to alienate his party's traditional base...

Between forgetting that he leads a party with a tradition of defending the law (Müdafaa-i Hukuk), ignoring the rising secular nationalism in the country, and disregarding the 59 percent who define themselves as Turkish nationalists and Atatürkists just to appease the 2.1 percent "Kurdish nationalist" electorate, we suddenly find him dabbling in religious exploitation just like the political Islamists, all while trying to tear Turkey apart.

He has started to include the statements he previously made after Friday prayers—which created a de facto situation—into his official program.

Where is the defense of secularism now... Of course, this must be read alongside his statement, "You will see headscarved candidates in the CHP from now on."

Let's sit straight and talk straight; things are manifesting in a highly unfavorable manner for the country's founding party. In a short time, we will see that the CHP has no real difference left from the AKP.

There is a very serious reaction on the streets, but for some reason, Özgür Özel stubbornly and persistently ignores it.

For instance, even if he just looked at social media—which we must now accept is an important social laboratory for those truly interested in these issues—he would notice, but he chooses to close his eyes.

How can he explain the fact that, despite the dozens of rallies he holds, the likes on his social media posts are extremely low compared to his 3 million 750 thousand followers?

His constant political wavering, due to a lack of ideological belonging, is diminishing the number of those who pin their hopes on him day by day.

A research company asked, "Which party can solve Turkey's problems?" The AKP came out at 20 percent, and the CHP at 18.3 percent.

The rate of those who said "none" was 40.2 percent.

Is there no one explaining to Özgür Özel what this research means?

Let's look at the situation from another angle now.

If we start from the premise that the CHP is still a "left-wing" party, we can say that the fundamental issue that left-wing politics in Turkey has been experiencing for a long time is neither its vote share nor its organizational capacity.

The real issue is what political structures that consider themselves "left-wing" place at their center, and what kind of politics they pursue.

Identity politics or class politics?

Republicanism, populism, and public ownership, or Western-style liberal democracy?

The answers given to the questions above sharply separate the actors of the left today. We need to see this.

The event titled "Like Ships Meeting the Waves; The TKP Challenges!" held last Sunday at the Ankara Congresium was one of the important examples that made this distinction visible.

It would be unfair to define the TKP's organization merely as an event.

For my part, I prefer to call it a "celebration."

Thousands of people who came from all corners of the country did not just settle for watching this celebration; they saw firsthand the difference between the political structures that will shape the future of the left in Turkey.

It is worth saying from the start; this event was nothing like the leftist meetings we remember from the 90s.

You know those meetings where guys with thick mustaches, furrowed brows, and parkas would talk for hours in cramped, smoke-filled rooms that looked like fox dens, with a half-baked sound system; meetings where outsiders would ask, "What are they talking about among themselves?"

It was the exact opposite of those.

The inside of the Congresium was full, and so was the outside. Those who could not enter the large hall upstairs watched the program on screens downstairs. The stage, lighting, music, video screenings, the choir... Everything was prepared extremely professionally, but more importantly, it wasn't cold. There was a warm, real celebratory atmosphere that embraced everyone in the hall.

People were cheering with slogans, songs were being sung, and no one was bored. A wave of excitement had taken hold of everyone.

The Internationale was sung, and the Seymen folk dancers performed Ankara dances. Atatürk was in the video screening, as was the War of Independence...

When important names of the Turkish left like Mustafa Suphi, Şefik Hüsnü, Hikmet Kıvılcımlı, and Behice Boran were made to speak via artificial intelligence, the hall was moved.

Thus, the TKP showed that it claims the revolutionary tradition of these lands.

The audience was young.

Truly young, not just in name...

A crowd in their 20s and early 30s, full of energy, bright, lively, with curiosity rather than weariness on their faces...

We can catch a strong clue here about where and how the future of the left in Turkey can be shaped.

Clearly, the TKP's youth vaccine has taken hold!

Let's not pass without mentioning; our girls in miniskirts, with "Che" tattoos on their arms, coming to the TKP event with "Americano" coffee in their hands, chanting slogans and singing revolutionary songs, are the reality of today. Let no one ignore it, and let no one raise an eyebrow...

The CHP has also been talking about 'rejuvenation' for a long time. Özgür Özel uses this language frequently as well.

However, the picture in Ankara was a notch different.

Today's youth do not want to settle for just word salad. What the TKP did was not just to call out to the youth; it was to offer a political language and way of thinking that could attract their interest and satisfy their minds; neither didactic like old-fashioned Cold War propaganda, nor tearfully nostalgic, nor esoteric in the style of a great wise man.

It was clear, but more importantly, it was local and ambitious.

One must think carefully about the messages given by Kemal Okuyan, who spoke towards the end of the event.

The emphasis on the Republic was particularly critical.

Let us say that his portrayal of the Republic not as a "legacy to be ashamed of," but as an anti-imperialist energy source, resonated with the younger generation.

Because these young people are not keen on the neo-Ottoman rhetoric that the AKP has recently marketed to consolidate its own base, nor the leftist romanticism of the recent past, nor the liberal clichés imported from the West. They are looking to the future.

Those at the head of the TKP have figured this out!

Let's come to current politics...

In this atmosphere, what Kemal Okuyan said, especially regarding the Kurdish issue, received good applause in the hall; we know very well that the same words caused discomfort in the CHP.

Kemal Okuyan spoke openly about the "process" issue that the CHP is so eager to jump into, saying, "Nothing will come out of this for the Kurdish poor. There are tribes here, there are companies here, there is the desire of the US and UK, there is blackmail and pressure from Israel... No light will come from such a blind, dark point; only a breakdown will occur."

Let us underline with a thick pen that he approached the issue from a class perspective, without entering the shallow waters of identity politics like Özgür Özel.

This is an approach the CHP is not accustomed to and, in fact, does not really like; because its current administrators insist on handling the Kurdish issue on an identity axis in a way that will not harm the interests of imperialism.

How well-intentioned this is and how compatible it is with the CHP's principles is known to everyone concerned with these issues.

Let's be clear, a policy that does not speak of the gap between the Kurdish poor and the Kurdish capitalist inevitably paves the way for the reproduction of regional inequalities. The TKP, on the other hand, hits the brakes exactly at this point. It points to tribes, companies, and imperialist interventions. In other words, it does not handle the issue with imperialist jargon and puts class politics at the center of the business.

From another angle, it emerges with the claim of placing the Kurdish issue on a different ground instead of denying it.

Özgür Özel's concern, however, is quite pragmatic: to please everyone and stall until the election.

He specifically avoids class politics so as not to disturb capital and imperialist centers. He prefers a language that "includes everyone" and "does not frighten anyone."

This language is not understandable in terms of election mathematics, and it is already obvious that it is problematic in terms of left-wing politics.

Because a leftism that speaks of labor but does not point to capital eventually turns into right-wing politics. If Özgür Özel does not have the ideological competence to see this, we cannot help but ask what he is doing at the head of the CHP.

In the TKP's event in Ankara, we saw the exact opposite of this:

"We are here, we are ambitious, and we are at odds with this order."

This fight does not frighten the youth; on the contrary, it attracts them. Because the young generation wants clarity and ideological precision, rather than compromises that are clearly going to serve imperialism.

But unfortunately, the CHP has a distant relationship with class politics. You can search for ideological clarity, but you won't find it.

There is an emphasis on labor, but no class struggle. Poverty is constantly kept on the agenda, but a real confrontation with the capital order that produces this poverty is avoided.

The CHP largely stands on the line of "market economy and social aid." It strives to come to the fore with a discourse of "intra-system justice" that does not fight with capital.

This is a leftism that will not frighten the urban middle classes. It may be politically "reasonable" for them, but let's call it by its right name: this is not leftism.

Kemal Okuyan's TKP, at this point, separates radically from the CHP. The TKP sees class politics not as an ornament, but as its reason for existence. That is why, whether looking at the Kurdish issue, the Republic, or the AKP, it speaks through the "labor-capital" contradiction.

Let us not pass without saying that there is an interesting irony here. The party that founded the Republic is the CHP, but the one using the Republic as an ideological energy source today is the TKP.

Kemal Okuyan's emphasis on "domestic fuel" is not in vain. The TKP does not see the Republic as an obstacle to socialism, but as a historical accumulation. Anti-imperialism, secularism, public ownership... It says that all of these have a counterpart in the experience of the Republic.

The CHP, on the other hand, is stuck on a line that is constantly apologizing and speaking with 'buts' when talking about the Republic. Rather than claiming the Republic, it tries to soften it in a way that will not frighten others.

That is why the TKP, ironically, walks more comfortably on the Republican ground that the CHP has abandoned.

Let's put on our reading glasses; there are two separate paths on the Turkish left.

One is the path represented by Özgür Özel; which prioritizes identity politics, ignores the class issue, but presents itself with a soft discourse when in a difficult situation, and is based on broad but fragile compromises.

The other is the path represented by Kemal Okuyan; which centers on class politics, claims the Republic, is not at odds with Turkey's founding principles, and looks at the Kurdish issue from this axis.

In the hall filled with young people in Ankara, we understood that this second path is now a reality that must be taken seriously.

And that is exactly what the CHP needs to see, and with that, we put a period to our article.