One of the cheapest, easiest and most frequently used weapons of Turkish politics is the accusation of “traitor”.
It does not require evidence.
It does not require reasoning.
It does not require a conscience.
You just need to find a crowd.
First the target is chosen.
Then it is labeled.
Then he is lynched.
The method has never changed throughout history.
Only the names have changed.
The fact that those who place Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's name at the beginning of every sentence today want to forget is this:
They also called Mustafa Kemal a traitor.
They issued a death warrant.
They called him a rebel.
They called him an enemy of the state.
They called him an adventurer who wanted to tear the country apart.
Today, it is even difficult to find the names of those who made those decisions in the footnotes of history books.
But the man they called a traitor changed the destiny of a nation.
Nelson Mandela was a terrorist.
Charles de Gaulle was a traitor.
George Washington was a rebel.
Mahatma Gandhi was a subversive.
Deniz Gezmiş was an enemy of the state.
History is interesting.
Today's traitors become tomorrow's heroes, while today's heroes often become tomorrow's forgotten apparatuses.
Because history is not written according to the noise of the crowds, but according to the resistance of the truth.
This is precisely why the language used about Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in recent years should be carefully analyzed.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu can be criticized.
It can be found wrong.
It may be found unsuccessful.
Their political preferences can be questioned.
But from the CHP rostrum...
From the CHP group meeting.
As a CHP deputy...
As a CHP executive...
Calling a person who has been the chairman of the same party for years a “traitor” is no longer political criticism.
This is political execution.
Because here the idea is no longer being discussed, the character is being judged.
And it is not any political opponent who is doing this.
They are the ones who sat at the same table until yesterday.
They are on the same lists.
They vote in the same congresses.
They are the ones who applaud from the same podium.
It is here that Atatürk's historic warning reappears:
Gaflet
Deceit
And even treason...
Because for a party to deny its own past is a blunder.
Attacking its own history is an act of misguidance.
To put the leaders he carried on his shoulders until yesterday in the crosshairs for the sake of political need is, to put it mildly, a historical disloyalty.
Those who call Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu a traitor today may not realize it.
But in fact they are putting their own political history, their own congress, their own legitimacy and their own voters under suspicion.
Because there is a very simple question that needs to be answered:
If Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is a traitor...
What were those who were in politics with him for years?
WHY DO THOSE WHO CALLED ME PRESIDENT YESTERDAY CALL ME TRAITOR TODAY?
Failure in politics can be forgiven.
Miscalculations can be made.
Strategies may not work.
Elections can be lost.
But it is ingratitude, not failure, that rots the moral backbone of a movement.
This is exactly what we see when we look at the accusations against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu today.
Many of the loudest voices are those who have been in politics alongside Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for years.
Vice presidencies...
Party council memberships...
MPs
Mayoral nominations...
MYK memberships
Endless praise on television screens...
Rising applause in the assembly halls...
They were all there.
Today, the same people are trying to put all the sins of the CHP on the back of a single person.
One can't help but ask:
If Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was so bad...
Why did you keep silent for years?
If there was betrayal...
Why did you accept the posts?
Why did you become an MP?
Why did you become mayor?
Why did you become a PM member?
Why did you take part in the FMC?
Why did you support the congresses?
Why did you stand behind him at every opportunity?
They cannot answer any of these questions.
Because the moment they answer, half of their accusations will fall on themselves.
Because there is a very simple truth:
If there is a failure, it is a collective failure.
If there is a wrong, it is a collective wrong.
But when it comes to accountability, everyone leaves the table.
That leaves only Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
This is the essence of the New CHP fairy tale.
Success is shared.
The failure is Kılıçdaroğlu's.
If the municipalities are won, they are ours.
If the election is lost, it's his.
We were all present when the posts were taken.
Let him be alone while responsibility is shared.
This is the history that is being written today.
But history is not so easily written.
Because the truth is stubborn.
Most of those who call Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu a traitor today owe their political careers directly to the Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu era.
A significant number of those who are on the screen today rose in that period.
A significant number of those who lecture on morality today held office at that time.
A significant part of those who are being held accountable today were applauding at the time.
That is why the issue is no longer about Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
It is a matter of political memory.
It is a matter of loyalty.
It is a matter of honesty.
Because it is one thing to say “he did wrong” about a politician.
“It is one thing to say ”it failed".
“It is quite another thing to say ”traitor".
And everyone who does politics under the umbrella of CHP should know this:
The “traitor” accusation against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is not only directed against him.
It was directed at the millions of CHP voters who voted for him for years.
It was directed against thousands of party leaders who served under his leadership.
It is directed against the Party's own history.
It was directed to their own congresses.
It is directed against its own legitimacy.
That is why those who call Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu a traitor today should first look in the mirror.
Because sometimes it is not the person in front of you, but the person in the mirror who has the questions you cannot answer.
And sometimes the harshest accusations are like boomerangs that return to their owner.
If you call the man you called a leader yesterday a traitor today;
History will ask you this question tomorrow:
Were you lying yesterday or today?
COMMON IN WINNING, SINGLE CULPRIT IN LOSING
One of the oldest tricks in politics is this:
When victory comes, the pulpit is crowded.
When defeat comes, the square empties.
Success is jointly owned.
Failure is blamed on one person.
This is precisely the essence of the political narrative being constructed about Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu today.
Everything we win is ours.
Everything we lost is his.
This is the new political fairy tale.
But reality is much harsher.
When Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu took over the CHP, many of those who today see themselves as the natural owners of the party were nowhere to be found.
Some of those pontificating on TV screens today had no political weight.
Many of those who play the role of saviors today were not known in the country.
Many names speaking on behalf of the CHP today gained their political legitimacy directly under Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
They became MPs.
They became mayors.
They became party leaders.
They became deputy chairmen.
They became party spokespersons.
They became the face of the screen.
But for some reason, the same people today are trying to tell the entire period as a story of failure.
What is more interesting is this:
They are not giving up on any of the successes achieved under Kılıçdaroğlu.
But they put all the responsibility on Kılıçdaroğlu.
This is not political consistency.
This is not political accounting at all.
This is outright historical engineering.
In which period were most of the metropolitan cities currently held by the CHP won?
In which period did the CHP's social expansion take place?
In which period did the groundwork for today's CHP to be seen as an alternative to power emerge?
Everyone knows the answers to these questions.
But they don't talk because it doesn't suit them.
Because they are trying to write a new story.
In this story, they will own all the successes.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will be blamed for all the mistakes.
But history is not written in propaganda offices.
Facts don't change with social media campaigns.
And no political movement can grow by denying its own past.
Even more serious is this:
Many of those who call Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu a traitor today do not realize that they will be subjected to the same treatment tomorrow when they lose power.
Because if the culture of loyalty is destroyed in a party, no one is safe.
What is done to Kılıçdaroğlu today will be done to someone else tomorrow.
What is done to the former chairman today will be done to the current chairman tomorrow.
There is no guarantee that those who applaud today will boo tomorrow.
Because it is not about individuals.
The issue is political morality.
And where political morality collapses, only factions remain.
Only cliques remain.
Only power struggles remain.
This is the most striking aspect of today's campaign against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
There is no political criticism.
Political scapegoats are being manufactured.
Because some people find it easier to put all the burden on one person instead of talking about their own responsibilities.
But history records what is right, not what is easy.
And history will ask the question when the day comes:
If Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu lost, where were you?
If Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu did wrong, why did you keep silent?
If Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has failed, what success have you achieved?
On that day, those who will have the most difficulty in answering will be those who shout the loudest today.
HEEDLESSNESS, MISGUIDANCE AND EVEN TREASON
Just because an idea is accepted by the majority does not mean that it is true.
History is full of countless examples of this.
For a while everyone said the same thing.
They chant the same slogans.
It shows the same goals.
They applaud the same people.
Then the wind changes.
The same crowd starts chanting different slogans this time.
What they applauded yesterday, they boo today.
What he carried on his shoulders yesterday, today he puts in the crosshairs.
He calls the one he declared a hero yesterday a traitor today.
This is precisely why Kierkegaard's famous quote is important:
“The crowd is untruth.”
Because the crowd disperses responsibility.
It dissipates conscience.
Distributes accounting.
Where everyone is shouting, no one thinks.
Where everyone applauds, no one questions.
Where everyone is attacking, no one stops to look at themselves.
A significant part of the language used against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu today is precisely the product of this crowd psychology.
Because there is a remarkable contradiction.
Those who worked with the same president for years...
Those who voted in the same congresses for years...
Those who were MPs from the same lists for years...
Those who have been nominated for the same mayorships for years...
Today he turns around and says that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is the only one responsible for all sins.
This is not just political inconsistency.
This is also a historical amnesia.
More precisely, it is not amnesia, but a conscious attempt to erase memory.
Because when the truth is remembered, many people will have to face their own responsibility.
This is where the great warning in Atatürk's Address to the Youth makes sense again:
Gaflet
Deceit
And even treason...
Those who easily label Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as a traitor today are acting under the shadow of these three concepts, perhaps without realizing it.
They are in heedlessness.
Because they do not realize what they are saying to the history of their party.
They are in delusion.
Because they are burning tomorrow to save the day.
And they are on the verge of political treason.
Because declaring the former chairman of a party, a politician voted for by millions of people, a “traitor” without any court decision, without any concrete evidence, is an attack not only on that person but also on the party's own past.
We need to be very clear here:
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu can be criticized.
It can be harshly criticized.
It can be found wrong.
It may be found unsuccessful.
But there is a price to pay for calling Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu a “traitor” from the CHP rostrum, at a CHP group meeting, as a CHP deputy or CHP executive.
Because that word is not only addressed to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
That word would be addressed to millions of CHP voters who voted for him for years.
That would be a statement against the CHP's own history.
That word would be addressed to the CHP's own congresses.
That would be a statement against the CHP's own legitimacy.
And that word eventually turns and hits its owner.
Because history is cruel.
History does not care who applauds.
It doesn't look at who is trending on social media.
He doesn't look at who is more visible on the screen.
History only looks at this:
Who stood in the right place at the right time?
Who changed direction according to the wind?
Who paid the price?
Who marched where the power was?
Who risked being alone?
Who got lost in the crowd?
Those who call Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu a traitor today may be counting on the power of the crowd.
But there are countless examples throughout history where the masses have been wrong and one person has been right.
That is why the real question is not Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
The question is this:
If you call the man you called my chairman yesterday a traitor today, to whom will you be loyal tomorrow?
If you lynch today what you carried on your shoulders yesterday, what value will you defend tomorrow?
If what you applauded yesterday you target today, what principle will you adhere to tomorrow?
This is what history will call to account when the day comes.
And history often writes the record not of those they call traitors, but of those they declare traitors.
Because neither faction has the last word.
What armies of trolls would say...
Nor the political balance of the day...
History always has the last word.