Republicans must produce concrete policies

Republican Friends gathered at the Republican Congress on June 7, 2026. Although I was invited, I could not attend. Our professor Erhan Nalçacı wrote an introduction in line with socialist terminology: https://haber.sol.org.tr/yazarlar/erhan-nalcaci/bir-donum-noktasi-cumhuriyetciler-kurultayi-2026-410324. He ended his article with these words: 'We hope that a revolutionary optimism will dominate the Congress. According to this optimism: Our working people can organize in a principled manner. The political will of the Republicans, based on the organization of the people, will overcome the problems. A Turkey that demonstrates this will and has defeated imperialism once again will not be left alone in the world.'

Our professor Barış Doster also contributed from a completely different discourse. 12punto readers must have surely read his article: https://12punto.com.tr/yazarlar/baris-doster/cumhuriyetcilerin-neleri-tartismasi-gerekiyor-141902. Our professor Barış ends his article with this summary: 'In summary, it is necessary to get rid of these shadows, spheres of influence, and tutelage, without ever forgetting that those who fight primarily and on the front lines against those who want to move Turkey from feudalism to federalism are the Republicans. To get rid of them, conceptual consciousness, ideological clarity, and political consistency are mandatory. Concretely, one must start by explaining what NATO, the attack and occupation apparatus of US imperialism, is.'

Both of our professors are leading thinkers with clear minds who express the political movements they represent in the most concise and clear way. That is why I mentioned their names and findings.

I would like to contribute to the discussion in a concise manner. In fact, I summarized my approach in this article of mine: https://12punto.com.tr/yazarlar/cenk-ozdag/pusula-ve-rota-gerek-bize-139664. 'The main task for those who call themselves "Left" also emerges here: While defending science, law, democracy, and freedoms; to put labor, economic independence, social justice, public security, and the people's demand to have a say in their own future back at the center of the political project. Because a new route can only be drawn by reconnecting humanity's great aspirations for equality and freedom with today's concrete insecurities.'

I want to approach the discussion from a more fundamental point. The emphasis on Republicanism is accurate. It is a more accurate and more current emphasis than "democracy" and a general "leftist" discourse. Indeed, the term "republic" is a good remedy for our needs, both etymologically and historically. It signifies a solution that belongs to the public and can only be achieved through the direction and administration of the public. On the other hand, "democracy" leans on the people. However, the people are plastic, variable, and shapeable. I addressed this character of the people in this article of mine: https://12punto.com.tr/yazarlar/cenk-ozdag/plastisitenin-siyaseti-140869. 'Politics is not the weakness of taking a snapshot of the current plastic state of the masses and positioning oneself accordingly; it is the art of reshaping that material with justice, reason, and virtue. Happy are the founding minds who see this fluid potential of the masses in this age of plasticization, who believe in the transformative power of the people, and who dedicate this flexibility not to grandstand entertainment, but to the construction of a bright future.'

It is necessary to focus on the possibilities and capabilities of the masses and the state. What Republicans should focus on is not the opinions and demands of the people under given conditions and propaganda. On the contrary, Republicans should focus on policies that will expand the possibilities and capabilities of the masses and the state, and that will direct and administer the people, in a way that will cast aside these given conditions and black propaganda.

Instead of "strategic positioning" against old and worn-out enemies to demonstrate our own cleanliness, innocence, and righteousness, we must focus on concrete, urgent, and planned policies. With strategic positioning, opposing any judicial decision, NATO, or the US, or supporting Russia, China, and the like, will not take us anywhere. We must focus on concrete and urgent steps toward our great aspirations by relying on the masses, the pioneers, and the possibilities and capabilities of the public, which are our only real resources we can rely on.

We should not present the allergies, traumas, despairs, and obsessions we bring from the past as obstacles before us.

Unless we can connect the urgent demands and burning problems of the ordinary person with our great aspirations, we will either be captivated by the intellectual appeal of grand and high politics or by the excitement of local and limited struggles directed toward "glorious" resistances.

More importantly, we must keep in mind that any politics and program without a plan for power will push us into a struggle for grabbing a corner. If we do not want to be content with the goals of growing any party or its circle, or pooling the anger of the masses around a major party in the given situation, we must focus on becoming the power and solving the problems of the country and the ordinary person.

I see with regret that revolutionaries and republicans adjust their speeches to "history" or to comrades who listen to them and whose hearts are already beating with them. These meetings, held without the desire and plan to be in power, will not go beyond the effort of keeping the flag of a certain view alive.

I demand from all authorized, responsible, and progressive friends, especially our professors, to share their solution proposals for our urgent and burning problems. I will suffice with giving a few examples of problems so that my request becomes concrete.

A solution policy against addictions that numb the masses and threaten public health, drug trafficking, and drug barons must be urgently developed both for the ordinary person and for the public.

The activities of media-political discourse mechanisms that feed on the polarization of the people and feed this polarization have now reached a point that threatens national security. Beyond echo chambers, the people are divided into compartments disconnected from reality.

Our people's problem of access to housing and food is burning. It has been acknowledged by the government that this problem needs to be solved urgently.

Various colors of the opposition do not propose any concrete policy other than complaining and making historical speeches.