Kemal Okuyan's striking remarks on Haluk Levent: 'The society's addiction to heroes...'

Singer Haluk Levent has been detained as part of an investigation launched on charges of "violating the Law on Associations," "laundering assets derived from crime," and "membership in an organization."

Levent's detention has become a major topic of discussion.

Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) General Secretary Kemal Okuyan evaluated the investigation into Haluk Levent as a result of "society's tendency to create heroes." Criticizing the entrustment of a social phenomenon like solidarity to individuals rather than institutions, Okuyan argued that making individuals untouchable both weakens oversight and leads to major disappointments. Okuyan stated that what has happened should not be handled solely as one person's mistake, but as a problem produced by a mentality that prioritizes individuals.

The Haluk Levent case should be seen as a new destruction caused by society's addiction to "heroes". Entrusting a deeply social act like solidarity to self-proclaimed individuals instead of the institutions of a decaying order reveals the dimensions of the desperation and siege our citizens are facing.

— Kemal Okuyan (@OkuyanKemal) July 12, 2026

Here is the article Okuyan shared from his X account:

The Haluk Levent case should be seen as a new destruction caused by society's addiction to "heroes". Entrusting a deeply social act like solidarity to self-proclaimed individuals instead of the institutions of a decaying order reveals the dimensions of the desperation and siege our citizens are facing.

The fact that those who do not trust the Red Crescent (Kızılay) donate billions with infinite trust to a person they actually do not know at all should be questioned on more than one level. In my opinion, the addiction to "heroes" is the most important of these levels.

From politics to other social spheres, these "heroes" created by the "star" system can easily hide mediocrity, ignorance, and weaknesses by taking refuge in the armor of immunity bestowed upon them by society itself.

These "heroes" are often dragged through the mud in a short time by the very mechanisms that created them. Gambling with money collected for earthquake victims is, of course, an expression of a very heavy decay. However, the system's toppling of Haluk Levent is neither the product of an effort for purification nor of developed moral values.

"Heroes" by nature lose their perception of reality and often go beyond the boundaries set for them. The system's act of dragging them through the mud is usually a very fast and effortless process.

This issue is especially vital in politics. That is why we say ideology is important, the program is important. That is why we say teamwork, collectivism. That is why we say a developed organization.

If ideology has been pushed back, for example, one day you act charming to the right and the next to the left, and no one says a word. If the program has become unimportant, individuals determine everything, and no one comes forward to object. If there is no organization, you become dependent on "heroes". Yet, real "heroes" are the product of ideologies and social movements with a clear direction. The number of individuals who bring about social movements and change the course of history is very small in history; in the final analysis, they too have been shaped by conditions.

Our people must stop creating "heroes" and being disappointed. For this reason, it may even be necessary to bend the stick in the opposite direction and say "there is no such thing as a hero".

We can be sure that we will witness much more dire examples of the Haluk Levent case in the field of politics. What is essential here is not to search for the "most moral person," but to create the highest level of oversight, collective intelligence, and developmental mechanisms.

News Source: 12punto