The opposition rising from its ashes...

Last week, I wrote an article about the unity and integrity within the Republican People's Party (CHP). I stated that in these extraordinary times, it is the perfect moment for the Republican People's Party to embrace a grand reconciliation and call upon the party's qualified human resources to build a collective wisdom for greater success. I received feedback far beyond my expectations regarding this piece. Both members and voters of the Republican People's Party agree that the CHP possesses the most competent cadres in the country. However, it has become a common sentiment that the party remains weak in utilizing this highly capable and qualified human resource pool. 

Moreover, this is not just an issue of today. For many years, increasingly narrowing factions, teams, friendship circles, and the management levels clustered and distributed around them have unfortunately caused this perception to become deeply rooted among voters. It must be noted that the final straw in the formation of this perception was the existence of hundreds of people who applied to the CHP to contribute during the 2023 general elections, only to be ignored and left unassessed.  It seems imperative that the Republican People's Party, which has been unable to reflect its extraordinary success in local elections to general elections for the last two cycles, must find the answer to this problem and make the necessary revisions. Why do voters not support the CHP to the same extent in general elections as they do in local elections?

That is the situation for the CHP. Now, let us talk about unity within the opposition bloc. We woke up on the first morning of the week to the news that the CHP Youth Branch Chairman, Cem Aydın, had been summoned to testify. Subsequently, an investigation was launched into Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, and on the evening of the same day, Zafer Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ was detained at a restaurant in Ankara where he was dining. At the time of writing this article, the outcome of Prof. Dr. Ümit Özdağ's case was not yet clear. 

These shocking investigations, which took place within a single day, also brought a necessity in their wake: solidarity among the opposition. 

Following the failure of the 'Table of Six' after the 2023 general elections, a belief emerged among professional managers in the opposition that parties coming together to form alliances did not yield positive results. This belief was further reinforced when the Republican People's Party emerged as the leading party in the subsequent local elections without forming any alliances, leading to the conclusion that opposition parties acting together brings harm rather than benefit. 

However, when it comes to general elections, the dynamics do not operate as they do in local elections. Since I have written about this many times in my previous articles, I will not elaborate on it this time. In short, while voters make their choice between two candidates with a high probability of winning in local elections—and even government supporters use their local election votes to send a warning to the ruling power—they prefer to turn to the party they feel a sense of belonging to in general elections. For this reason, under the current presidential government system, it is crucial for the opposition to act together when heading into a general election.

After the 2024 local elections, different stances emerged among opposition parties regarding both the Syrian issue and the 'opening-like' process the government is currently engaged in. This divergence sometimes led to situations where the opposition was effectively opposing the opposition. 

On the other hand, the silence of the DEM Party, which has been part of the opposition bloc until now, in the face of anti-democratic practices following its negotiations with the government, has caused it to drift away from the opposition. 

While on one hand, the participation and transfer of deputies from the IYI Party or other parties to the AKP have increased, on the other hand, the opposition has splintered into a thousand pieces. Opposition party representatives, becoming increasingly sharp against one another, began to place the CHP or each other at the center of their statements rather than the AKP or the People's Alliance. Thus, the CHP was isolated. This situation played right into the hands of the government. 

That was until that dark Monday... There is a saying that there is a silver lining in every cloud. Perhaps what happened on that dark Monday served as a catalyst for deputies from different political parties to walk arm-in-arm toward the Çağlayan Courthouse. The statements made by opposition leaders one after another revealed that the slogan 'there is no salvation alone' was not just a call directed within their parties, but a necessity for organizing social opposition.

Now, in these extraordinary times we are going through, almost every party is trying to ensure internal unity while simultaneously beginning to look favorably upon a unity based on social struggle within the opposition bloc. 

Extraordinary situations require extraordinary strategies. Without regard for size, without falling into arrogance,  without dwelling on the past by saying 'you did this to me, I did that to you,' it is time to ensure the social opposition and unity that was formed during the 2017 referendum. 

I would like to conclude this article with the same sentences I used to end my previous one; 

'Perhaps now is the most critical period to achieve this. Tomorrow may be too late...'