Kemal Okuyan: Aligning behind Özel is doomed to failure

Evaluating the debates within the CHP and the government's maneuvers, TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan said, "A plan aimed at paralyzing, locking down, and making the CHP unmanageable as much as possible is in operation."

Okuyan stated that the efforts of those expecting a compromise within the CHP have remained unrequited, emphasizing that two distinct sides have now clearly positioned themselves.

Kemal Okuyan expressed that the government's previous plan to "separate Özgür Özel from Ekrem İmamoğlu" is now a thing of the past, adding:

"Now, a plan aimed at paralyzing, locking down, and making the CHP unmanageable as much as possible is in operation. It was clear that operations against CHP municipalities would accelerate and new ones would be added. However, all of this is not enough to make Kılıçdaroğlu the 'leader' of the CHP. The impossibility of this has become apparent."

“AKP CANNOT EVEN EXCITE ITS OWN BASE” 

Arguing that the government's moves to lock down the CHP are not enough on their own to relieve the AKP, Okuyan pointed out that the cost of living, poverty, and interventions against the right to vote and be elected have created serious discomfort among broad segments of society. Criticizing the government's foreign policy choices and the economic situation, the TKP General Secretary stated that the government is experiencing a crisis of credibility and continued:

"We are in a period where the credibility of a government that has firmly placed itself on a pro-American, pro-NATO axis, engaged in dangerous ventures in the Black Sea, given the green light to regional arrangements that comfort Israel, and condemned the vast majority of its citizens to unsustainable poverty, is being questioned by the entire society, including its own base. For the AKP, the only way to save the day is to ensure that the CHP is discussed through operations and gossip, and to gloss over the aforementioned agendas."

Okuyan claimed that this strategy carries great risks for the government, that the AKP can no longer set the agenda, and that new constitutional debates could also leave the government facing a new governance crisis.

"ALIGNING BEHIND ÖZEL IS DOOMED TO FAILURE"

Stating that the CHP cannot achieve success with a line of struggle limited only to its own internal affairs, Kemal Okuyan concluded his criticisms regarding intra-party opposition and the current management's vision with these words:

"While all this is happening, a line of struggle limited to internal intervention in the CHP has no chance of success. People get angry when we say this. Let them be angry, but let them think. Aligning all forces behind Özel and his team in the CHP, even when we put political, ideological, and class issues aside, is an approach doomed to failure in terms of the struggle against the government. A dam built there cannot hold water. It is impossible."

Those who expected the polarization created within the CHP by the AKP to result in a compromise have surely seen that these efforts for compromise have no response. We had said, “There are two parties now.” Efforts for compromise that have no response are a waste of time for those who have difficulty taking sides for various reasons…

— Kemal Okuyan (@OkuyanKemal) June 12, 2026

News Source: 12punto