The slogan in the headline is the one written on the poster behind SHP Chairman Professor Dr. Aydın Güven Gürkan before the party convention—a fact known to very few people, as the poster was handwritten to save on costs.
Professor Dr. Aydın Güven Gürkan’s remarks to his inner circle regarding the elections “I won’t accept a single penny from anyone; we’ll spend whatever we have in our pockets on the way to the convention.” was recounted by witnesses to the events he described.
The witnesses from that day, who said, “He never did anything that went against his moral principles, he never bargained for a position with anyone—and if he had, he would have won that convention,” were describing the Turkey of the 1990s, a time we now look back on with a sigh.
There may have been little of everything, but so much in the name of humanity…
Professor Dr. Aydın Güven Gürkan was a distinguished figure who opposed the power that politics derived from oligarchic structures.
He openly criticized the fact that political membership, fueled by oligarchic power and nepotism, had brought the masses—whose political standing was precarious—into the heart of politics.
Such political affiliations “paper tigers” He spoke out courageously, with the integrity of an intellectual, about how it came to be.
"Clean Society, Clean Party, Clean Politics" was not merely a slogan, nor was it merely a wish; it was also the legacy that carried the Republican People’s Party into its second century.
The primary reason why politics and politicians have moved from the assemblies where they were elected to the corridors of the courts is the changing lifestyle of politicians and those gathered around them from the 1990s to the present day.
Let’s acknowledge this from the outset: the lives of politicians, their close advisors, and their relatives have shifted from modest three-bedroom apartments to luxury condos and villas, where the monthly maintenance fees sometimes exceed the minimum wage.
In posts that create content for social media “one of the people” Politicians who try to turn their very existence into a narrative have, right from the very start, stumbled and lost touch with the people due to their changing circumstances.
Changing living spaces, changing environments, and the presence of people who think more deeply than the president—who is constantly on the go—have transformed the politician into someone with a different social identity.
This social identity, which was not earned through hard work, education, or labor, and the heavy price paid to meet the basic necessities of life associated with it…
For most third-generation members, the key to belonging to the same social class as the heroes of these stories—which span from small workshops to large factories and corporate ownership—and to living in the same neighborhood or being neighbors with them in a villa, lies in just one thing:, “the unfounded self-confidence that such a position can be secured through political office” the heavy price he paid…
By leveraging the benefits of social media algorithms, promising to reach large audiences “political marketers” In the luxurious lifestyles that the politicians’ thirst for the limelight had afforded them, they were, of course, planning for the future—but it was a vision of a future that benefited only a handful of people at the outset, not the people…
And also “Our Muslim neighbors who move to affluent neighborhoods so they won’t go to bed full while their neighbors go hungry” There is.
In their grand, opulent halls, seated in their gilded armchairs, their hands constantly clasped in prayer for fear of losing what they have…
There was a wise saying from the old days: “It only takes a handful of grass to make a goat leap off a cliff.”
On one hand, politicians fighting for their identity and survival amid changing living environments, changing needs, and the advertising tools of a changing world…
On the other hand, a society whose mind is thoroughly confused by femicides, examples of social decay during prime time that make one exclaim, ‘This is too much,’ mafia series, and social media influencers where no one actually works yet everyone is rich—a society whose emotions are being systematically corrupted…
Now that we’ve strayed so far from the ideals of a clean society and clean politics, the only thing left to us is the Clean Party and the CHP tradition…
The enduring presence of the people of this time-honored tradition and this clean party still gives us hope…
“Wait, grain of wheat buried under the snow; you will sprout again with its water.”