Ozgur Ozel;
“You say, ”Either a life of dignity or this black order"...
But in this country people are no longer interested in the aesthetics of slogans,
he looks at the life from which those slogans emerge.
Because Turkey has been watching the same political theater for many years.
Words are changing
Faces are changing
Party logos are changing...
But the character of the relationship with power does not change.
Someone keeps saying “change”,
But when you look at how that change is reflected in everyday life, what emerges is often just a new ruling class.
And that is precisely why society is now angry.
Because people have been hearing the same sentence for years:
“We are different.”
But then they look back:
The same protocol language...
The same reflex of authority...
The same passion for comfort...
The same habit of turning public opportunities into personal status spaces...
This is where trust collapses.
Because it is no longer just a question of a car.
Issue,
with the moral language used to criticize the government,
is the gap between the life lived when one enters the sphere of power.
And as that chasm grows,
the legitimacy of politics is starting to erode.
Because people now see this very clearly:
On the one hand, “populism” speeches...
On the other hand, yacht tables...
On the one hand, the “black order” discourse...
On the other hand, new comfort areas growing with municipal facilities...
On the one hand, slogans of “equality”...
On the other hand, the VIP political culture...
And do you know what the most serious part is?
All this is still shamelessly marketed as “change”.
No, no, no.
This is not change.
This is just a transfer of power reflexes to other cadres.
Because this is precisely where politics rots.
A person first begins to resemble the one he criticizes.
Then it becomes him.
In the end, he defends her.
This is exactly what is happening today.
Whatever criticism was directed at the AKP yesterday,
Today the same behavior is justified by saying “but ours”.
What was called “public plunder” yesterday is now called “security needs”.
What was called “waste” yesterday is now called “protocol obligation”.
What was called “pomp” yesterday is called “state tradition” today.
And society no longer believes in these language games.
Because the public no longer only looks at what is being said.
He looks at how it is lived.
The Republican People's Party is not an ordinary party.
This party;
It is the party of the people who carried bullets to the front with ox carts.
This party;
is the party of those who built a state in poverty.
This party;
not those who turn office into personal comfort,
is the history of people who gave up their own comforts if necessary.
It is in the party's memory,
not politicians who grew up on the backs of the people;
There are cadres who pay the price together with the people.
With Bülent Ecevit's modesty,
With Ismet Inonu's state seriousness,
We are talking about a tradition shaped by the ethic of sacrifice of the Kuva-yı Milliye.
And that's exactly why the images that emerged today,
It is not an ordinary political debate.
It creates a moral fracture.
Because people are now asking the question openly:
“If you are so populist,
Why are you building a new political aristocracy with money from the people's pockets?”
And this is the center of the whole debate.
Because it is not about a vehicle of office.
Issue,
is the mentality that the vehicle represents.
Because if you really needed that car,
don't worry;
Honorable members of this party that fought the War of Independence on a cart,
he would have bought you that car again by collecting money among themselves.
But no CHP member,
leaning on a municipal budget,
to turn a people's tax into a personal comfort zone.
Because sacrifice, not privilege, is in the genetic code of the CHP.
And that is precisely why what is happening today is not just a crisis of political communication.
This one,
It is the deep moral rift between the CHP's historical spirit and its current practice.
Because people are not new slogans anymore,
wants to see a new political morality.
But there is another growing picture:
A new political aristocracy formed through municipalities...
Those who talk about revolutionism at yacht tables...
Those who turn populism into a VIP protocol system...
“Talking with the rhetoric of ”labor",
those who reproduce all the comfort reflexes of power...
And then they still say “we are change”.
No, no, no.
This is not change.
This is just a changing of the guard.
And this is exactly what society now objects to.
FROM PUBLICIST TRADITION TO MUNICIPAL ARISTOCRACY
The historical weight of the Republican People's Party did not only come from elections.
This party,
In Turkey, it sees itself not only as an alternative to power,
but also as a claim to political morality.
He called it publicism.
He called it populism.
He called it sacrifice.
He said that he was against the use of state resources for personal vanity.
And millions of people for years,
Even if it was not in power, it gave the CHP a certain moral credit.
Because there was this thought in the minds of the society:
“At least they won't turn the public sphere into a personal domain.”
This is precisely where the CHP's historical legitimacy was born.
But the picture that emerges today,
it makes me think the opposite.
Because there are no longer just a few controversial images.
There is a growing political culture.
A new political aristocracy formed through municipalities...
Armies of bodyguards
VIP lounges
Protocol privileges
Executive reflexes
The normalization of luxury as “normal management practice”...
And do you know what the most serious part is?
All this is still defended with the language of “populism”.
This is precisely where social anger grows.
Because people in Turkey are no longer just experiencing an economic crisis.
It is also experiencing a crisis of representation.
People who say they represent them,
increasingly detached from his own life.
A pensioner calculating grains in the market...
Young people who can't pay their rent...
Parents who cannot give pocket money to their children...
Millions struggling to survive on minimum wage...
On the one hand, there is this reality.
On the other side,
a new stratum of political elite that has started to reproduce all the comfort codes of power...
And then they turn around and call it “change”.
No, no, no.
This is not change.
This one,
is the transfer of the habits of power to the opposition.
Because human language can change.
The slogan may change.
His party may change.
But not if its relationship with the public does not change,
What emerges is only a new ruling class.
This is exactly what is happening in Turkey today.
Part of the opposition,
the moral language he uses when criticizing the government,
as soon as it enters the sphere of power, it starts to leave.
And society now sees this.
Because people understood this very clearly:
The true character of a politician,
not in the sentences he spoke when he was in opposition;
in the way he leads his life when he reaches power.
That is why it is not just a means to an end.
Issue,
is the political consciousness represented by that vehicle.
Because they are used after a while,
tables sat at,
established protocols,
reveals one's understanding of politics.
And the image that emerged today,
More than the spirit of sacrifice of the Kuva-y Milliye;
It evokes a new political aristocracy growing through municipalities.
This is where the danger begins.
Because politics,
It rots the moment it speaks for the people and becomes detached from the people.
And this was the biggest crisis in Turkey for years.
What was the most harsh criticism of the AKP?
Public facilities,
transforming it into a comfort zone of power.
Equating pomp with state administration.
Turning public power into an arena of personal prestige.
And what has changed now?
If today the same reflexes are reproduced by other cadres,
With all due respect, this is not “new politics”.
This is called the old order, only maintained by new actors.
And this is precisely the biggest disappointment of society.
Because people no longer just want the government to change.
He wants political morality to change.
Not new slogans,
he wants to see a new character.
But the growing picture is suggestive:
Part of the opposition in Turkey,
rather than changing power;
is preparing to become the new ruler of that order.
And this one,
is a far greater danger than defeat at the ballot box.
Because movements that lose elections can recover.
But structures that have lost their moral legitimacy,
begin to lose their historical weight.
Because politics is not just the art of winning elections.
It is also an ethic of representation.
And the moment the morality of representation collapses,
even the most powerful slogans turn into empty propaganda.
Today, the CHP faces just such a historical threshold.
Either it will return to its founding spirit...
Or it will turn into a new political elite club that thrives on municipal resources.
Either it is really publicist,
populist,
will produce a modest political character...
Or it will become another version of the order it has criticized for years.
And history,
will judge those who made that choice very harshly.
And perhaps the most tragic part of the issue starts right here.
Because people in Turkey no longer only look at what the government is doing.
Opposition,
to the point where it starts to resemble power.
Because the basic story that has been told in this country for years was this:
“AKP has turned the public sector into an arena of personal power.”
“He created a new privileged class with state funds.”
“He mistook pomp for politics.”
“He has lost touch with the people.”
So what do people see today?
A new language of comfort growing through municipalities...
A new protocol order...
A new political elite culture...
And most importantly:
All of this is still being dressed up with the concepts of “leftism”, “populism”, “change” and “justice”.
This is where the real break in the conscience of society occurs.
Because people in this country are no longer surprised by the pomp of a right-wing government.
But a political movement that defines itself on the basis of populism,
It is even more disappointing when it starts producing the same reflexes.
Because the CHP's historical claim was not only to win elections.
It was to build a political character.
It was not just about being in power.
It was to show another morality against the corrupting reflexes of power.
That is exactly what people are questioning today.
Because people now see this:
Someone keeps saying “the people”...
But he doesn't live like the people.
Someone keeps saying “labor”...
But the distance between the life of labor and its own life is constantly growing.
Someone keeps saying “equality”...
But politics is increasingly producing a VIP culture.
And as this contradiction grows,
The credibility of slogans is also collapsing.
WITHOUT PURIFICATION THE WORD “HONOR” HAS NO MEANING
And now we come to the most critical part of the issue.
Because it is no longer just a question of political communication.
Issue,
is directly a question of moral legitimacy.
Imagine a party:
He talks about “clean politics” on the podium...
But he cannot touch names that are under suspicion.
“He says ”honor"...
But he is silent about the pending investigations.
“He says ”populism"...
But it is unable to put forward a real will against the new networks of interests emerging through the municipalities.
This is where public trust is broken.
Because people are now asking:
If you are really different,
Why don't you settle accounts within yourselves?
Why transparency you want for everyone,
for your own municipalities?
Why do you call for an “independent judiciary” but when it comes to the proceedings, the political defense reflex kicks in?
And more importantly:
Why is it that the same criticisms you have leveled against the AKP for years are now “normal” for you?
No, no, no.
True honor,
not just against the opponent;
is to be able to tell the truth in your own neighborhood.
Because it is the true character of the politician,
not when you're yelling at the other neighborhood;
how it treats the rot on its own side.
And this is precisely the real test for the CHP today.
Either he is really going to have a historical cleansing...
Or it will become a carrier of the new political order that is emerging around the municipalities.
Because it is no longer a matter of a few names.
Issue,
is a matter of the character of the party.
If you really call it “honorable politics”,
then the thing to do is very clear:
Anyone who is under serious suspicion will be dealt with.
The immunity of MPs with criminal proceedings is lifted.
Mayors and executives who have been indicted,
shall be withdrawn or suspended from party membership and party duties, if not from office, until the conclusion of the proceedings.
Because no one,
“It cannot exempt politics from moral scrutiny by hiding behind the phrase ”being on trial is one thing, being guilty is another".
Yes,
legally everyone is innocent.
But politics is not only legal,
it is also a moral domain.
And when moral trust is lost,
political legitimacy starts to erode.
This is precisely the message the CHP should deliver today:
“We also police ourselves.”
Because society now wants to see this:
It does not resemble the AKP system that has been criticized for years,
a political morality that can be a real alternative to it.
Or people are tired of hearing the same sentence:
“It's okay when our people do it.”
No, no, no.
On the contrary.
If the CHP really wants to preserve its historical claim,
the harshest scrutiny has to come from within.
Because it is a structure that does not experience purification,
over time it loses every value it stands for.
And the greatest decay,
It starts with the habit of defending the wrong.
What is needed today is not new slogans,
is a fierce internal reckoning.
Because sometimes it is not the election victory that saves a party,
is its will against its own internal decay.
He fought the War of Independence,
established a state,
of a historical tradition that raised a country from poverty;
surrendering to a new comfort system that thrives on municipal means,
is no ordinary political drift.
This one,
is the erosion of historical memory.
And that is precisely why the CHP's challenge today is not just elections.
Issue,
what spirit it will represent.
The spirit of sacrifice of the Kuva...
Or a new order of political privilege that thrives on municipal resources...
And perhaps the most serious aspect of today's debate is this:
It is not only external attacks that are exhausting the CHP,
is the growth of contradictions within itself.
Because no political movement,
is not solved only by attacking your opponents.
The real unraveling,
It begins when the distance between its own claim to foundation and the life it lives grows.
And that is exactly what millions of people in Turkey feel today.
On the one hand, they talk about populism...
On the other side, a new form of political life, detached from the people, is growing.
On the one hand, labor is emphasized...
On the other side, there is a language of protocol that has no connection with the reality that labor lives in.
On the one hand, the “black order” is criticized.
On the other side, all the comfort codes of that order are reproduced.
And society no longer ignores this contradiction.
Because people are not stupid.
People of this country,
He also sees who is really sacrificing,
He also sees who only talks about sacrifice from the pulpit.
That is precisely why today's crisis is happening,
not only political;
is a moral crisis.
Because people are no longer just those who govern,
It has also started to question the opposition that speaks for it.
And this one,
It is a very big break for Turkish politics.
Because the greatest strength of the opposition is not only its rhetoric.
It is a claim to moral superiority.
If that claim is eroded,
only the struggle for power remains.
And society,
after a while, he just starts thinking:
“So everyone is the same.”
And this is where the biggest collapse of politics begins.
Because when a society's hope dies,
democracy becomes just a technical electoral contest.
This is precisely the greatest danger in Turkey today.
People losing faith in politics.
Because people are no longer just in power,
It also questions the opposition's relationship with the public.
And he asks the question:
“If you criticized them for years,
why are you reproducing the same way of life?”
As long as this question remains unanswered,
the erosion of trust in society is growing.
Because history has shown us this:
It is not only organizational strength that sustains a movement.
It is moral credibility.
And the moment moral credibility is lost,
even the most powerful slogans begin to fail to resonate with people.