A letter from Özgür Özel to the year 2123

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel held a meeting with party members under the age of 40, including members of the Central Executive Board (MYK), Party Assembly (PM), High Disciplinary Board (YDK), as well as deputies, provincial chairs, and mayors, as part of the party's founding anniversary. 

Özel read the letter addressed to the CHP Chairman of September 9, 2123, and signed it alongside former chairmen Murat Karayalçın, Altan Öymen, and Hikmet Çetin.

The letter was buried in a capsule in the garden of the CHP Headquarters. A copy of the letter was also hung in the 'CHP Memory Exhibition'.

NOT A MUSEUM, BUT A MEMORY EXHIBITION

Subsequently, the 'CHP Museum' was inaugurated. Speaking at the opening of the museum at the CHP Headquarters, Özgür Özel said, 'We have gathered to initiate a long-overdue and very appropriate project within the CHP. Following the justified warnings of our esteemed former chairmen, we are not calling this a "museum." Because a museum is a place where works and structures that have been left behind and remain in history are preserved. However, the CHP is a living organism, a structure that renews, rejuvenates, and strengthens itself every day. For this reason, with the appreciation of our esteemed former chairmen, we deemed it appropriate to name this the "Memory Exhibition."'

'IT SHOULD NOT MEAN THAT LABOR IS DISREGARDED'

Stating that 'The fact that this place is being opened by us should never mean that previous efforts are disregarded,' Özel continued, 'It reached this point as a result of Mr. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu expressing this deficiency in Central Executive Board meetings, which I also witnessed, and our then-Deputy Chairman Ms. Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi viewing this not just as a task but as a significant responsibility, and perhaps dedicating herself to this work as her most important and intensive endeavor for certain years.'

'There are the efforts of Mr. Burhanettin Bulut, who holds a similar position in the current term. There are the efforts of Mr. Umut Akdoğan. Our Memory Exhibition has reached its current state through the work of our current friends, building upon their efforts and diligence,' he stated.

Stating that the exhibition features documents, items, posters, and campaign songs related to important events in CHP history, Özel said, "After entering through this door, you will see the tears shed during the execution of the three saplings in 1972 at critical junctures in history; the superhuman effort shown by İsmet Pasha to prevent executions after the 1960 coup; and that this party, with its 12 chairmen from that day to this, has never, ever leaned toward a coup, never paved the way for coup plotters, never compromised on democracy, and that no chairman has ever bowed an inch, taken a step back, or spoken a word less than necessary."

Here is that letter written to the CHP Chairman 100 years from now...

Dear Mr. Chairman,

As the Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), one of the two great works of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 100 years ago, we are writing this letter to you with the participation of our former chairmen who have sat in this seat, as well as our members of parliament, Party Assembly members, High Disciplinary Board members, provincial chairs, and mayors under the age of 40.

On the 101st anniversary of our party's founding, as the cadres who made our party the leading party in Turkey in the last local elections, we are fighting to achieve these goals by also finishing first in the upcoming general elections, in line with the goal set for us by our founder, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, to elevate our country to the level of contemporary civilizations.

As the continuation of the cadres who trace their founding to the Sivas Congress of September 4, 1919, who ensured our country's independence and founded our Republic, we have passed through very difficult turns throughout our long history. We have seen our party's assets seized, and we have seen our provincial and district chairs fall victim to cowardly assassinations. Our chairmen faced assassination attempts but did not falter. It has always been the perseverance and determination of our members that have brought our party out of these difficulties.

Dear Mr. Chairman,

We have successfully completed our Second Century Change Congress. We want the Chairman and the cadres who will carry our party into the Third Century to know that we are a political party that is both firmly committed to our founding values and always open to innovation and change, as required by our principle of revolutionism.

I believe that 100 years from now, you possess high technologies we do not have today, a modern democracy, and the rule of law, and I dream that by the 200th anniversary of our country's founding, we have transformed into one of the most developed countries in the world.

In line with these dreams and goals, we will fulfill the mandate given to us by our delegates at our Second Century Change Congress, fighting to first bring our party to power and then to leave a more prosperous, brighter, and more livable Turkey to the generations after us and to you.

We are leaving a copy of this letter, which we all signed together, in our party archives, another copy in our Museum which we inaugurated today, and a third copy in a capsule at the base of the olive tree planted in our garden during our party's 100th anniversary.

From the twenty-first century to the twenty-second century with our best wishes.