Like head, like haircut!

In politics, I am sometimes more preoccupied with the excuses manufactured to defend a decision than with the decision itself.

I cannot help but wonder: do these people truly believe in what they are defending, or is their only concern to find excuses with flowery sentences to push something onto others?

Just like those trying to whitewash Özgür Özel's 'yes' vote!

Let me say it straight without beating around the bush; these people are less like political scientists and more like individuals so detached from reality, so devoid of logical sequence and rational thought, that they require explanation from social psychologists or even psychiatrists who ponder these issues.

As I read them, I am left wondering whether to laugh or cry.

For instance, Alper Taş, who frequently appears on screens with his "leftist" identity, has said, "The government is setting up a game, and Özgür Özel disrupted it by joining the commission. Secondly, he disrupted it today by voting 'yes'."

Then he added, "After all, one of the most important dynamics carrying the main opposition to power is the Kurdish dynamic. 'Look, you see, they are putting obstacles in front of this process. These are enemies of the Kurds, these are enemies of peace'—they will build a political language from this. I think Özgür Özel made a smart tactical move."

Where do we even begin with this statement!

If this level of nonsense is not because he expects some favor from Özgür Özel, one wants to think it is likely due to the heat that has held the country hostage like a bandit!

Is it just Alper Taş?

No...

Open social media, and you will see how these and similar posts are circulated.

There is nothing to be taken seriously, but unfortunately, this is how politics works.

They never question the political framework the government puts before them; they are only concerned with explaining why the opposition should enter that framework.

"The law might be problematic, but if they had said 'no', we would have lost the support of Kurdish voters due to the government's propaganda."

Good heavens, as Mehmet Ali Erbil would say, why is that?

If we look at the logic of this crowd, the opposition will determine its political position according to the potential propaganda the government will make, and vote in Parliament accordingly?

Is that so?

If this is what they understand by politics, when will the opposition have its own original policy? Will it spend all its time taking political positions based on the game set up by the government?

Moreover, we know very well that Kurdish voters have long tended to cast their preference for either DEM or the AKP.

To think that Kurdish votes will flow to the New Party just because Özgür Özel said "yes" to this law...

Would be naive, to say the least.

Then...

What happened to the opposition's ability to articulate its own message?

Let's give credit where credit is due. Even if most of it is empty talk, Özgür Özel has a way with words.

Does he not have the courage to stand up and say, "The government intends to set such a trap for us, but we will not fall for it; we are committed to the fundamental principles and values of the Republic, and based on the fact that terrorism is a crime against humanity, granting amnesty to an organization that targets the unity and integrity of the country is incompatible with our understanding"?

Is he obligated to say "yes" to every regulation the government puts before him just to get the support of Kurds in metropolitan cities?

Furthermore, it is unclear who will stand with whom at the ballot box tomorrow based on the law that is being voted "yes" today.

In politics, no one can contract the future voter behavior from today.

What else...

For example,

"The law is problematic, but let's support it. At least we can influence the process from within and change it in the direction of peace and democratization."

When one reads these sentences, one feels like saying "come on, really" with a thunderous voice from the diaphragm.

It's like a joke...

What can we say, the "Alageyik" (fabled deer) might come out of the street as a virgin, but neither peace nor democratization will come out of this system. Let no one pin their hopes on it in vain.

Do you not see at all that both are the same government?

Authoritarianism did not descend from the sky. The politicization of the judiciary, a regime that pounces on anyone who speaks up, the entire state mechanism being constantly on alert to silence the opposition, and so on!

With things as they are, to expect a law prepared by the same mentality to produce democratization on its own...

Moreover, a small rehearsal of this has already been experienced.

They told the CHP, "Join the commission, influence it from within,"

The CHP joined the commission.

So, what has changed in the time that has passed?

Has Turkey become a more democratic country?

Has the pressure on the opposition decreased?

Has the judiciary become independent?

There is also an attempt to explain all of this with the concept of a "state project."

You know that "state wisdom" story they invent to trap the nationalist crowd when they cannot handle a situation; they are trying to sell the idea that this is a state project and that is why Özgür Özel and Ekrem İmamoğlu did not object.

But which state?

If we are talking about a state mechanism that stands above politics, operates independently of governments, and has its own mind and strategy, what does this have to do with Turkey's current reality?

To assume that the state mechanism operates completely independently of the government, one must ignore the systematic pressure the judiciary and bureaucracy exert on the opposition.

In a period where the boundaries between the state and the government in Turkey have almost completely disappeared, pushing every political choice by calling it a "state project" and making it indisputable is, in fact, removing politics from discussion.

Let us underline this with a thick pen.

In short, if one wants to, an excuse can be found every time:

"If we object now, we will lose this voter base"

"If we oppose it now, the government will use it as propaganda material"

"If we don't support it now, the process will be ruined"

In this way, the opposition has turned into a political structure that constantly calculates what the government will say and do, rather than what it will say to its own voters.

There is no real opposition left either.

Politics is not about being an extra on a stage set up by someone else.

Let's come to those who are surprised by Özgür Özel's 'yes'!

The vast majority of the party base reacted as if they were unaware of what he has been saying until today.

Yet, his approach to the Kurdish issue has been no secret since the day he sat in the CHP chairmanship seat.

The statements he makes at every opportunity and the sentences he constructs are there for all to see.

Was it someone else who entered a pissing contest with Devlet Bahçeli and said, "I promise a state to the Kurds," pushing aside Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's concept of the "Turkish Nation" and insisting on "equal citizenship" using the PKK's jargon?

Who was it that gave messages in the voice of pro-Kurdish factions in Diyarbakır, saying things like, "Kurds will decide whether there is a Kurdish issue or not, the state cannot decide," "The Kurdish issue will not end by them saying so; on the contrary, it deepens as they say such things," "The problems of the Kurds exist until the Kurds say 'there is no problem left,' and they must be solved"?

Therefore, it is truly difficult to understand the astonishment experienced today.

Let's say we accepted what he said as "politically given messages."

But where will you place his diving headfirst into the parliamentary commission established because Abdullah Öcalan wanted it, by saying, "This was already our proposal"?

He couldn't send a representative to Imralı because he feared the reaction of the voters, but did no one notice that the deputies subsequently entered a race to apologize?

Now, there is no point in turning around and asking, "Where did this 'yes' come from?" as if forgetting all of this.

What can we say, like head, like haircut...