It is not just an attack! Perception, shielding, threats, and a dark design

Turkey is talking about the attack carried out against Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel on May 4, 2025.

This attack should not be seen merely as an individual case of violence; it must be viewed as part of a much larger plan. The fact that it was so easy to approach the main opposition leader and carry out a physical attack during such a critical period cannot be explained away as an ordinary security lapse.

It emerged in a short time that the attacker is a murderer who killed his own relatives without blinking. Now, one must ask: How can someone with such a brutal past walk around freely and get close enough to the main opposition leader?

Which mechanism allows such a criminal to roam freely in society? And more importantly: Why do these individuals always appear on the scene at critical turning points?

These questions lead us to the existence of a dark structure, a kind of systematic operation.

A FAMILIAR STRATEGY

The fact that such actions are put into play whenever the government is cornered, corruption becomes rampant, and social reactions grow cannot be explained by coincidence. This is a strategy. A familiar strategy. It is a systematic method built on threats, intimidation, devaluation, discrediting, and making targets accessible.

The goal is not just physical attack.

With these attacks, an image of an “unprotected, weak, and helpless” opposition leader is being constructed in the public eye.

An opposition figure slapped in the middle of the street is being turned into a part of the order the government has built through perception.

The message “It is free to touch these people” is being ingrained in the public mind. A message is being sent to a public that is focused on power and does not like victims or the weak.

Stepping back a little is enough to see the facts that scream “I am here”: the AKP’s increasing failures at home and abroad, the controversial relations with Israel and the US, the continuation of trade with Israel, the new peace process, signals of freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, unlawful operations against İmamoğlu and his team, the insistence on Kanal İstanbul, and finally, the striking allegations raised in Cyprus…

WITHOUT JUSTICE, THERE IS NO PEACE OR FREEDOM

While the incident of Cemil Önal, who was killed in the Netherlands, and the allegations regarding certain high-level state officials have not yet fully entered the public agenda, the fact that such an attack completely changes the agenda shows us that we are facing a perfectly functioning perception machine that serves several purposes at once.

This situation is no longer just an attack on an opposition leader; it is the liquidation of the rule of law, the intimidation of society, and the deliberate paralysis of democracy. Turkey should not be left to the mercy of a few mafia-like figures, rent-seeking gangs, and a corrupt order. This country should not be dragged further into darkness every day just to protect someone's personal survival.

Today, every individual with a conscience in this country needs to take responsibility for the Republic of Turkey to become a state of law once again.

Where there is no justice, there is no peace; where fear reigns, there is no freedom. Everyone must see this truth now.

Because we know that the lies intended to replace the truth are managed very professionally.

The AKP is not just continuing the historical legacy of right-wing politics prone to violence; it is re-engineering it in a more sophisticated and targeted manner.

Of course, it is not possible to know the absolute organizers of these attacks by name. But the language used and the state of satisfaction provide a great context.

When we look back at history, we see that Republican People's Party Chairmen have been constantly targeted in similar ways.

İsmet İnönü was targeted repeatedly, especially during the Democrat Party era in the 1950s.

He was attacked with stones in Kayseri in 1957, his path was blocked and he was stoned in Uşak in 1954, and he was subjected to attacks with stones and sticks in Topkapı, Istanbul, in 1959. In these attacks, İnönü’s car was damaged, and his personal safety was seriously threatened.

Bülent Ecevit was targeted countless times.

Before the CHP rally held in Taksim Square on June 3, 1977, the Prime Minister of that period, Süleyman Demirel, had informed Bülent Ecevit that he would be shot with a scoped weapon from a room on the upper floors of the Sheraton Hotel during the Taksim rally.

Ecevit, in his radio speech for the June 5, 1977 elections, conveyed the information that he had been given intelligence reports that an assassination would be carried out against him, and asked no one to come to the rally the next day. Despite this, the square was completely full on June 3.

Assassination attempts were made in New York on July 23, 1976, and at Çiğli Airport, where civilian flights were operated in those years, on May 29, 1977.

The attack organized during a trip to the US after the Cyprus Peace Operation in 1976 was prevented by an FBI agent. In the attempt at Çiğli Airport, Mehmet İsvan, the brother of the then-Mayor of Istanbul Ahmet İsvan, was injured. It was alleged that the weapon used in the assassination was found in the Special Warfare Department.

From 1973 to 1980, Ecevit was targeted with stone and stick attacks in many places from Isparta to Gerede, from Elazığ to Nevşehir, and from Niksar to Şiran.

Ecevit never showed any sign of fear against these attacks.

In 2014, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s convoy was attacked by the PKK with long-barreled weapons in Artvin.

In 2019, he was subjected to a lynching attempt by a large group at a martyr’s funeral in Çubuk, Ankara; he was punched, stoned, and had to take refuge in a house.

It turned out that the person who punched him had a criminal record for theft. He narrowly escaped a life-threatening situation.

Media close to the government gleefully published photos of Kılıçdaroğlu looking anxious in the crowd, and even images of the exact moment the attacker, Osman Sarıgün, threw the punch.

Finally, Özgür Özel was targeted on May 4, 2025, at the AKM by a murderer who killed his own children.

In addition to CHP members, it should be noted that DTP leader Ahmet Türk was also subjected to a punch attack in Samsun in 2010.

When we look at all these attacks, the state of fear, anxiety, vulnerability, and the effort to render them helpless in the resulting pictures are striking. We repeat, we insist... This is a conscious organization of evil...

And this evil must absolutely be fought.