An agenda that is changing too fast to write about... Each new headline is so heavy that it makes us forget the previous one; each new claim is so striking that it makes the previous one ordinary. Today, the Republican People's Party is not only experiencing a political crisis - it is at risk of losing its institutional memory, its moral references and its ground of social trust all at the same time.
As one of the longest-established institutional structures in Turkish politics, the Republican People's Party has gone through many fractures throughout its history. But what it faces today is not a “political rivalry” or a “leadership debate” in the classical sense. It is a deeper and structural crisis: a crisis of moral legitimacy.
The most fundamental capital of a political party is not only its vote share. The real determinants are social trust, institutional coherence and ethical reflexes in times of crisis. This is precisely where the CHP's biggest problem lies today:
The inability to take a clear stance in the face of allegations, the inability to distance oneself from wrongdoing and, most importantly, the “reflex to take sides” overriding the “reflex to defend the truth”.
This situation is defined as “institutional disintegration” in the political science literature. When institutions lose their internal control mechanisms, they suffer not from external attacks but from internal decay. This is exactly what the CHP is experiencing today.
Normalizing Immorality: The Most Dangerous Threshold
The most critical breaking point for societies is not the doing of wrongs, but the normalization of wrongs.
The most dangerous element in the debates around the CHP today is this:
The reactions to these allegations rather than the allegations themselves...
When a corruption allegation is made, the expected reflex is this:
“Whoever did it must answer for it.”
But today the picture is different:
“The question ”Who did it?" takes a back seat,
“The question ”Whose side do we take?" comes to the fore.
This shift in mentality erodes not only a party but also the system of values that party represents. Because the issue is no longer justice, but belonging.
The Lynching of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu: A Psychological, Not a Political Construction
Another noteworthy topic in this process is the systematic lynching campaign against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Criticism is legitimate and even necessary in politics. However, when the line between criticism and discrediting is crossed, what emerges is no longer political competition but perception engineering.
When one analyzes the way Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is being targeted, it becomes clear that this is not just a leadership debate. It is also not a “reckoning with the past” but an attempt to erase and rewrite the past.
But the reality is this:
One of the most important reasons why the CHP is still standing today is that it has been able to build an institutional backbone for many years. One of the most critical carriers of this backbone is Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Imperative Obligation: More than a Leader
Today, the CHP's crisis is not only a managerial one; it is a need for cleaning and reconstruction.
And the reality that emerges at this point is this:
Perhaps for the first time in its history, the party needs a leader not out of political preference but out of institutional necessity.
Because the current situation is not one that can be solved by a change of administration alone.
This is a structural problem that needs to be cleaned from within.
The reason why Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu stands out here is not only because of his past position;
“is the figure that has so far done the least to erode the claim of ”clean politics".
It is not a matter of emotional attachment; it is a rational assessment.
Conclusion: This is a Threshold, Not a Crisis
Today, the CHP is not at a crossroads, it is at a threshold.
Either this process will be a milestone in which the party will recognize the rot within itself and restructure itself,
or this decay will turn into irreversible institutional erosion.
The thing to remember is this:
Political parties disintegrate not by losing elections, but by losing their moral ground.
And the real issue today is this:
Will the CHP have the courage to face this reality within itself?
Because it is no longer a question of who will go...
Whoever stays will be able to stand up this structure.