Kemalist Enlightenment Association Spokesperson Buket Müftüoğlu: A historic responsibility falls upon the CHP

Kemalist Enlightenment Association Board Member and Spokesperson Buket Müftüoğlu evaluated the ongoing debates within the Republican People's Party (CHP).

Müftüoğlu, who previously served as a member of the 32nd Term Party Assembly (PM) and as an assistant to the Central Executive Board (MYK) of the CHP, began her remarks by recalling an anecdote about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and stated the following:

“In 1905, while serving as a trainee officer in the 5th Army in Damascus, Mustafa Kemal took on the task of capturing Bedouin leaders who were inciting Arab tribes against the Ottoman Empire. The captured leaders offered Mustafa Kemal a large amount of gold to be released. The young officer's response is powerful enough to go down in history: ‘I will not stain the honor of the state.’ This stance is not only the virtue of an officer, but also a harbinger of a nation's future honor of independence. A similar example occurred in Aleppo: Mustafa Kemal advised his close friend Müfit Kansu that state affairs and personal interests cannot be mixed. ‘Müfit, state business and personal accounts are not mixed. To hoard the nation's money is theft.’ Thus, the foundation of the Republic is built not only with determination and courage, but also with personal integrity and public loyalty.

This line of virtue from Atatürk has also manifested itself with concrete examples in the modern history of the Republican People's Party. The party's chairman at the time, Deniz Baykal, took a decisive stance in the 2000s to prevent personal interest calculations from infiltrating the party. In this context, the debate with Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül remains etched in memory. While Sarıgül stood out as a figure who could rise rapidly within the party by using his high popularity, various discussions regarding interest-based relationships emerged in the public eye. During this process, Baykal, taking Atatürk’s anti-bribery and anti-personal interest stance as an example, strongly emphasized that the CHP is not an alliance of interests, but a party of morality and the people. The lesson Baykal gave to Sarıgül and the party public at that time was extremely clear: ‘This party is not a party of interests. Whoever enters the party's door for personal gain must leave through that same door.’”

'TURKEY IS FACING THE GME'

Stating that Turkey today is face-to-face with the efforts of international powers to redesign the Middle East within the scope of the Greater Middle East (GME) project, Buket Müftüoğlu emphasized that the project attempts to erode Turkey's nation-state identity with ummah-based and sectarian rhetoric, deepen ethnic and religious fault lines, and legitimize regional interventions directed at the state's independence.

“This policy, carried out on the AKP-MHP axis, has also included the DEM Party, humiliated the Republic of Turkey before the terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan, and brought disgrace to the memory of our martyrs,” said Buket Müftüoğlu, adding, “This situation erodes the concept of the Turkish nation with dreams of Neo-Ottomanism and replaces it with an ‘ummah’ identity.”

Müftüoğlu continued her words as follows:

“Today, what is happening on these lands is an injustice to the fully independent Republic of Turkey, which Atatürk and his comrades-in-arms founded with blood and wisdom. The moral stance Atatürk displayed in Damascus and Aleppo showed that a leader must remain untainted not only on the battlefield but also in public administration. The example of the then-Chairman Deniz Baykal is also a modern reminder of this compass. The CHP’s mission of existence is possible by ensuring that the people trust the state. If the people believe, the state is strong; if the people do not believe, the state weakens.

CHP municipalities and organization managers must protect public property as if it were their own, must not waste a single penny of the people, must base local governance on science, secularism, and modernity, and must not compromise on personal interests. Atatürk’s personal stance in Damascus and Aleppo, as in the example of Mr. Deniz Baykal in today’s politics, carries the moral foundations of the Republic. This legacy is a historic and heavy responsibility on the shoulders of CHP members at every level. If the people believe, the CHP grows stronger. If the CHP grows stronger, the Republic of Turkey will live forever.”

News Source: 12punto