The unbearable lightness of posing while performing ablution

Turkish politics is going through a strange period of drought, where ideological backbones are being dissolved on social media platforms, values are being rotted in partisan news channels, and principles are being sacrificed to day-to-day pragmatism.

We are talking about a mind-boggling barrenness.

There are no ideas here; let us assume there is a grand stage determined by perception management.

As principles and values retreat, they are replaced by reflexes aimed at saving the day.

We witnessed the latest and most striking example of this in the images reflected—or projected—to cameras of former CHP Chairman and current New Party leader Özgür Özel performing ablution at a mosque fountain in Kastamonu.

Let us call it by its proper name.

This is an extremely amateurish piece of political engineering.

In his novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera questioned the tension between a person's choices and their identity. What we see today is a lightness where principles, political identity, and ideological consistency can be easily sacrificed for the sake of a few frames of footage.

This is precisely why the Özgür Özel images cannot be evaluated merely as a moment of worship.

We are not questioning a politician performing ablution here. The issue is not anyone living out their faith.

Faith is a person's most intimate sphere, and it should absolutely not be a subject of debate.

What we are emphatically questioning is the transformation of these images into a tool of political communication and a backdrop for religious rituals.

In short, beyond being a simple image, this is one of the most striking photographs of the identity crisis into which the opposition in Turkey has been dragged.

The fact that political actors emerging from a tradition that claims to represent the founding values of the Republic, as well as a vision of an Ataturkist and modern Turkey, are trying to win a match using the strategy of the ruling power on the playing field drawn by that same power cannot be explained merely by amateurism and incompetence.

The real issue is ideological drift.

What can we say? This hegemony, built for years with right-wing conservative rhetoric, must have made left-wing and center-left actors so ashamed of their own identities that they find the solution in posing by a fountain.

The institutional statement made after the incident caused an uproar on social media is, quite literally, a lackluster public relations fiasco.

The defense made through the party's communication channels, stating, “The images were taken by a citizen from the mosque congregation during the Kastamonu program on July 3rd and have nothing to do with us,” is the product of a childish panic caused by being caught red-handed.

To claim that a party leader traveling with an army of professional security and advisors was unaware of someone getting right under his nose at the fountain with a mobile phone is, to put it mildly, mocking the intelligence of the average voter.

A political movement aspiring to power in Turkey does not generate credibility in the public eye by making such defenses.

In politics, trust is as much about perception as it is about reality.

People believe what they see; not the forced explanations made afterward.

These and similar artificial images are extremely repulsive and hurtful to the Ataturkist, secular, and Republican base that forms the backbone of the party.

The voter wants to see an unwavering stance and ideological clarity in their leader, not artificial imitations.

These cosmetic moves, undertaken to harvest votes from the conservative AKP base, also harbor a sociological ignorance.

History and political science have proven time and again that the Turkish voter will never vote for a fake when the original exists. Appealing to the conservative world is not done by presenting imitation performances based on faith, but by promising justice, meritocracy, and clean politics.

Trying to resemble Tayyip Erdoğan or AKP politicians and attempting to seek succession on their turf does not provide Özgür Özel with the slightest political advantage. On the contrary, these amateur maneuvers directly carry water to the mill of the current government, which aims to “make everyone resemble itself.”

A leadership profile that belittles the values of its own neighborhood while trying to impress the opposing neighborhood rapidly alienates the loyal base it already has.

This visionless political strategy does not grow the opposition; on the contrary, it voluntarily imprisons it within the ideological trap set by the ruling power.

In politics, those who betray their essence do not achieve success; those who walk against the wind with their own principles win.

In politics, trust is earned through consistency, not makeup.

It is, of course, important for a leader to meet with different segments of society.

They go to the mosque, they go to the cemevi, they visit the church, and they stop by the synagogue.

This is a requirement of democratic politics. However, there is a big difference between the natural flow of these events and the symbolic images served to the public.

The former is respect for every segment of society, while the latter is political marketing.

Turkey's opposition has long been conducting its election campaigns not through its own agenda, but through the debates determined by the ruling power. It talks about symbols when it should be talking about the economy. It deals with image management when it should be explaining the law. It tries to extinguish social media crises when it should be growing the hope of the youth.

Yet, the public's expectation is extremely clear.

The citizen wants more justice.

They want more meritocracy.

They want economic security.

They want a transparent state.

They want an independent judiciary.

No one is buying symbolic photos in place of these.

Today, Turkey's fundamental issue is not anyone being seen in a mosque or at a fountain. The main issue is that the country's real agenda is being lost in the shadow of such symbolic debates.

Let us conclude our article by saying that the retiree crushed by inflation, the young person living with anxiety about the future, the university graduate who cannot find a job, and the millions crushed under high rents are interested in a mind that produces solutions, not in the image management of politicians.