What they call change in politics...

Following the 2023 General Elections, the change in the Chairperson of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the subsequent victory in the local elections made the word "change" a buzzword for all parties in Turkish politics. The subject of how change in politics is understood or perceived is in dire need of explanation. When we look at the practice, the process that began with the change of the chairperson in the IYI Party after the 2024 elections continued with the congress attempted and then postponed to ensure a change of chairperson in the Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi), and seems to have concluded with the change of two ministers in the AK Party. I am not including the resignations of members of parliament and transitions to other parties in this picture of change.

When we look at Turkish politics from a distance, it is not really possible to speak of a change in the ideological framework, renewal, or a difference in the way politics is conducted.

We can partially exclude the Republican People's Party (CHP) from this picture. Because after the change of the chairperson in the CHP, a difference in the way politics is conducted can be easily observed. It is still too early to predict where this differentiation, which also includes normalization talks, will lead as a political result. In short, with the exception of some cases, when we look at the whole of Turkish politics, we can easily say that what is understood by change is merely a change of individuals or just the chairperson.

Of course, there are also political parties where it seems impossible to achieve a change of chairperson through a congress in the current order. Parties like the AK Party, where the presence of the chairperson is never open to discussion, the MHP, and to some extent the DEVA and Future (Gelecek) parties, which are included in this group... You might say, let's assume a change of chairperson is very difficult in these parties, but shouldn't there have been a change or differentiation in the way of doing politics and its philosophy after the election defeat of 2023 for some, and 2024 for others? Of course, there should have been. However, such an effort and intention are not yet visible from the perspective of the leaders of these parties.

Meanwhile, there was a change of two ministers in the AK Party, but with the reappointment of the former minister Kurum to the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, we can actually say that politics has turned into short passes in a narrow space with a handful of people. Truly a handful of people! Always the same faces, always the same words... I honestly couldn't decide whether it is more disturbing that politics in Turkey is progressing among such narrow cadres, almost in a vicious circle, or that no one is complaining about this. Or rather, we could say that there is no strength left to complain. Or the decrease in belief and trust in politics... People are tired and fed up. This fatigue is not only in the voters; party organizations are also tired and fed up with consecutive elections, non-functioning intra-party democracy, and the same names coming to the same positions over and over again. In the order created by the current political parties law, if you are close to the chairperson, you have the opportunity to engage in active politics. If you are not close, no matter how qualified you are, your job is difficult.

While hundreds of qualified, competent, knowledgeable, and experienced people cannot even become neighborhood delegates, the fact that the same names have been sitting in the same seats for 15-20 years is the root cause of Turkey's lagging behind in science, health, education, law, and many other fields today. There is no need to look far. If the political parties law had been discussed as much as the new constitution discussions in Turkey today, we would be living in a very different political climate. As long as the political party chairpersons, first and foremost, do not give up this "leadership tyranny," our work, and a real change, seem difficult.