Kılıçdaroğlu's remarks were not an exit, but an announcement of the liquidation process, while the presidential race has turned into not just an election, but a test of character where everyone takes their true place.
“I'd rather die standing than live kneeling before you.”
This was not just a momentary outburst by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu; it was the announcement of a break in Turkish politics, of isolation and, in fact, a confrontation with the naked reality of the system.
What followed, “join me or get out of my way”, was much more than an invitation: It was a call for a purge. It was a warning to clarify the ranks, to drop the masks, for everyone to take their true place.
And yes... What was said that day was a rehearsal for what is happening today.
The presidential process was not just an election. It was also a test of character. Who gave shoulder, who was a burden, who waited, who lurked... All were revealed.
We also saw those who shed tears. But we have also seen the career plans, seat calculations and “positioning for later” reflexes hiding behind those tears.
Özgür Özel, Oğuz Kaan Salıcı, Gökhan Günaydın, Müslim Sarı, Ekrem İmamoğlu...
This society has not forgotten how those who said “we are with you” yesterday are aligned today. It will not forget.
Because the dirtiest game in politics is not open hostility.
The most dangerous are the betrayals that grow under the guise of loyalty.
You fight with those who are openly against.
But those who stand next to you and change direction at the first bend...
They don't just lose. It rots from within. Silently, insidiously, systematically.
This is not a new story in Turkish politics.
This is today's version of what was done to Bülent Ecevit yesterday.
This is another stage in the internal reckoning that took shape after Turgut Özal.
This is a continuation of the tradition of those who cannot share power to pin the loss on a single shoulder.
Contacts in the run-up to the second round of the election...
Negotiations behind the scenes...
Discourses that changed overnight...
None of this is “political maneuvering”.
These are outright breaches of trust.
The clamor for “change” that started even before the polls closed was not a movement of ideas but an expression of an impatient appetite for power.
It is the most refined form of political immorality for those who made seat calculations when the struggle was not yet over to turn around today and point fingers as “the sole responsible for the defeat”.
Veli Ağbaba, Ali Mahir Başarır, Gökhan Zeybek, Umut Akdoğan, Selin Sayek Böke...
The names go on and on.
But it was never about names.
It was about mentality. And that mentality is still there.
Those who were silent that day...
“Those who retreated saying ”let's not spoil the game"...
“Those who protect their comfort zone by saying ”this is the way things are"...
Together they built today's wreckage.
Those who come out today and say “Kılıçdaroğlu is responsible for everything” are not only distorting the truth; they are also trying to erase their own role from history. But history does not accept such cheap amnesia.
The allegations served through İsmail Saymaz once again showed how systematic the perception operations carried out by the media are.
Scenarios were circulated, not facts.
Not criticism, but discrediting was produced.
It was engineering, not politics.
But there is one thing they forget:
Memory.
The memory of society is slower than the ballot box, but deeper.
And one day he will speak.
Today the same play is on the stage again.
New alliances, new accounts, new faces...
But the method has not changed:
Stand next to him first.
Then push from behind.
Then turn around and say “we were already against it”.
Let's be clear about this:
No one in this story is squeaky clean.
But not everyone is equally dirty.
Those who do politics by the sweat of their brow and those who change sides according to the wind...
Those who pay the price and those who make them pay...
Those who resist and those who wait...
It is not written in the same sentence.
And most importantly:
This is not the end.
The pen did not break.
The book is not closed.
Notes were taken.
And when the day comes...
Everyone will be buried under their own sentence.