The remedy for the CHP: A great embrace…

While opening-style negotiations continue on one side, trustees and the detention of mayors continue on the other. While the Republican People's Party (CHP) is being squeezed by the government on one side, the AKP's parliamentary transfers focused on a new constitution show no signs of slowing down. There is no need to ask what this inconsistency is all about. All indicators show that the government's increasingly authoritarian management style is becoming permanent. With things as they are, everyone's concern is, of course, what the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party, will do or what it should do… 

Dreams shattered in the 2023 general elections, followed by hopes that blossomed again with the success of the 2024 local elections… The local election results, experienced amidst this emotional volatility, had become a source of hope for people fighting for a more democratic, contemporary, enlightened, and developmental future for Turkey. 

So, how did the psychological superiority in politics slip out of the opposition's hands after such a great electoral success? 

How will things improve as we head toward a possible general election? 

In short, what should the Republican People's Party do?

Ultimately, as someone who knows the party and its organization well and comes from within it, while I find some of the advice given from above by those who do not know the party to be well-intentioned, I do not find it realistic or applicable. The most important reason I do not find it realistic is that the ones who will implement every proposed strategy are the party's human resources, namely its organization or party boards. For party members who know and observe that the cadres of the Republican People's Party, which possesses every kind of political capacity and activism with its historical heritage, have been in a state of emotional detachment for some time, many ideas are neither realistic nor applicable.

On May 29, I wrote an article for 12punto.com titled “The 3As the CHP must stay away from.” In that article, I defined the 3As as divisive debates, candidacy debates, and the constitution. 

By staying away from internal party divisive debates here, I meant the full realization of internal party unity and integrity. At the point reached today, perhaps the most important issue is the division that occurred within the party after the November 2023 congress, which is not really wanted to be seen and is treated as if it does not exist. This is not a subject that can be simply brushed aside as just 'change-makers' and 'internal party opposition.' It has never been that simple either. 

However, today, resolving this issue is practically a necessity. A great embrace seems necessary for the Republican People's Party organization to be able to move into a state of action, fully motivated and as one, during the extraordinary days that will be experienced while heading toward a general election. The architect of this great embrace can, of course, only be the CHP Chairman. All other steps taken without ensuring this state of unity carry the risk of remaining incomplete.

I would like to underline and remind you once again; in politics, what is needed most to evaluate extraordinary situations and to make political planning suitable for this new situation is political experience and accumulation. The cadres of the Republican People's Party, whose chairmen and staff have been assassinated, tried, and held in Zincirbozan at various periods of history, possess a strong historical memory, accumulation, and the competence to find a way out. 

Now is the time to invite the CHP's competent human resources to the processes of creating a common mind and to managing together with this great embrace.

As a result, under today's conditions, the priority is to make the Republican People's Party organization and its cadres dynamic again. The path to this dynamism and activism lies in belief and dedication. Perhaps the most critical period to ensure this is now. Tomorrow may be too late…