What happened in the CHP, and how did it happen?

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had to leave the chairmanship without even being able to make a farewell speech…

Yet, what was expected and appropriate was for Kılıçdaroğlu to raise the hand of Özgür Özel, who was elected as the new chairman, and to end his political struggle with a speech amidst applause. 

I am sure we would have witnessed very emotional moments. I am sure this handover in the CHP would have united the party like a magnet.

It didn't happen.. Because Kılıçdaroğlu did what was unexpected of him again…

Just like he did throughout the election process and afterwards…

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For two days, I had intense contact with CHP voters and delegates who filled the sports hall and its surroundings in Ankara. 

We commented on and reported the historic convention with a live broadcast on TELE 1. 12punto.com.tr reported the important developments to its followers instantly with its two reporters. 

The general picture was that change was absolutely necessary. However, even those who wanted change were of the opinion that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu should leave without being too battered. 

We conveyed this atmosphere at the convention to the viewers. Özgür Özel, who set out with claims that he 'could not get 100 votes', had caught up with his rival. A candidate was going to win the convention by a nose…

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THE CHP BASE BELIEVED IN ÖZEL… 

In the program I did with Özgür Özel 4 days before the convention, I directed all the allegations and criticisms against him. The program achieved the highest viewership ratings of that night. 

Özgür Özel had given very open and convincing answers to all the criticisms directed at him, especially the question 'you were also there during the election defeat?'. (You can find the details in my article last week) 

In contrast to Kılıçdaroğlu, who said he would bring the ship to a calm harbor, Özel had prepared for the convention by saying, 'I will sail that ship with full sails in open waters, in the oceans'. 

For the answers to the questions of what happened in the CHP, how did it happen? and how did the change take place at the convention? it is essential to take a short journey into the past…

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Remember, 

Erdoğan was going to be defeated in the 100th year of the Republic…

The Table of Six was born as a forced alliance. 

The Table was going to field the strongest candidate against Erdoğan. 

But that didn't happen… Everyone of average intelligence knew that the two strongest candidates were Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş. Moreover, this result was clearly emerging from the polls. 

The thought that Mansur Yavaş would not be able to get enough votes from the Kurdish voters had taken him out of the running. Ekrem İmamoğlu was the only leader profile capable of receiving votes from all over the country. 

THE PALACE'S FEAR OF İMAMOĞLU

İmamoğlu's Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) mayorship was one of the obstacles in front of his candidacy. He had to resign to become a candidate. However, the Palace's fear of İmamoğlu grew so much that it wanted to eliminate the possibility of him resigning and becoming a candidate. The then-Minister of Interior, Süleyman Soylu, acted like a prosecutor of two separate cases full of forced and fabricated crimes, trying to build thick walls in front of İmamoğlu's candidacy. 

The operation was being carried out openly in front of everyone's eyes… The lawsuits filed gave ammunition to the narrow group in the CHP that screwed its future to Kılıçdaroğlu's seat. While a justified policy could have been produced to explain the victimization İmamoğlu suffered and to drag large segments of society behind it, this structure in the CHP management began to bury the heaviest and most unjust operation in history. 

The injustice done to Ekrem İmamoğlu was not explained in the squares, it was practically ignored… This resentment became one of the issues that the voters realized and did not speak out about before the election. 

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THE LARGE CREDIT OPENED TO KILIÇDAROĞLU

When the two candidates were 'deactivated', Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu became a candidate by receiving votes from 5 of the 6 parties at the table. Voices were constantly echoing in his ears saying, 'whoever we put up, we win, you become the candidate'. 

Despite all the mistakes in Kılıçdaroğlu's candidacy and election campaign, the intellectuals, writers, commentators, and the broad voter base of this country did not object loudly. Because the election calendar was squeezed into a very narrow timeframe. Every criticism was grist to the mill of the government in an election race that was on a knife's edge. 

Some pens, captive to populism, were writing and telling what everyone actually knew and saw, with the complacency of receiving applause rather than the country's struggle for existence. 

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Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was consuming the extraordinary credit opened by the dream of a country without Erdoğan. 

The patriotic people of the country, who bit their lips, had closed their eyes to grave mistakes so that not a single vote would be lost before the election. 

The feelings that would be reflected in the convention were accumulating in this way.

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THE GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT EXPERIENCED DURING AND AFTER THE ELECTION…

A CHP leader and his narrow staff who did not engage in self-criticism after the election was lost, did not discuss 'where did we go wrong?', and acted as if they had won the election…

The disappointment that would emerge at the convention was deepening! And of course, it was possible to extend this list…

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While the enlightened people of the country were in great questions, worries, and despair, and while the belief in the ballot box, elections, and that things would go well in the future had dropped to zero, the expected voice rose from Istanbul. 

İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu said 'change'.. 

The narrow group in the CHP hid behind shallow explanations such as 'look, İmamoğlu was lurking, he was waiting for today'. Yet, the citizen was about to explode at the end of the extraordinary credit they opened to the CHP being recklessly consumed to the end. They were in a deadlock and hopeless. İmamoğlu, neither too early nor too late, paved the way for hope again by saying 'the king is naked' at the right time. 

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İMAMOĞLU SAID 'THE KING IS NAKED'

This statement by İmamoğlu brought the river of change flowing deep within the party to the surface. 

It was now necessary to do something and to change, to transform…

Before the ink of the change statement dried, the supporters of change grew with names such as Bülent Tezcan, Özgür Özel, Ali Mahir Başarır, Gökhan Günaydın, and Gökhan Zeybek.

Özgür Özel took over the flag, and with İmamoğlu's open support, the wind of change blowing in Istanbul traveled all over Turkey and turned into a hurricane on the day of the convention in Ankara. 

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Kılıçdaroğlu's;

'I will leave the party to a social democrat'  

'I will hand it over to a knowledgeable, experienced, good social democrat to safely bring the ship to the harbor'  

'Bring someone who knows the CHP and has no baggage, I will resign and leave immediately' like his careless statements made one after another also drove the CHP voters crazy. 

With these statements, the heavy resentment against the election defeat turned into a flood of anger. 

Everyone in the CHP, especially the communications unit, seemed to have sworn to make Kılıçdaroğlu make mistakes!

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ÖZEL MUST SUCCEED

I have summarized what everyone sees and knows… To answer the question 'how did the change happen at the convention?', it is necessary to remember these processes and the accumulated feelings, the mistakes made in order… 

Change did not come overnight. 

It happened after a great accumulation and actually under very difficult conditions… 

So much so that; Özgür Özel became the second politician after Ecevit to change a leader in office through an election. 

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What was said to be impossible happened… What was said to be unchangeable changed… With this convention, the CHP refreshed its hope before the local elections to be held in 5 months… 

'There are no hopeless situations, there are hopeless people… I have never lost my hope,' said our Great Leader…

The CHP delegates elected the 8th Chairman to Atatürk's seat. That chairman announced his roadmap. The management staff will also be determined after this long night, the PM members will be elected, and from among these members, Özel will form the MYK, that is, the management. 

Özgür Özel and his team need to multiply the hope entrusted by the delegates and write a new success story in the local elections…

Not only for the CHP… But for the millions who are waiting to come out of the darkness with one hand on their chest, whose hearts are beating with worry and anxiety about the future…