The expression “criminal types” used by Manisa MP Özgür Özel in his statement about the process in front of the CHP Headquarters is not only an unfortunate word against the people who were there, but also a great injustice against the party's conscience, labor and thousands of party workers who have been struggling with honor for years.
First of all, I would like to make it clear:
As Kadir Polat, I am a community volunteer who has dedicated a significant part of his life to contributing to the children, youth and future of this country.
I am a citizen who has traveled around 70 cities of our country to support education, traveled more than 500 thousand kilometers, and tried to be a hope for children by reaching the remotest village schools in Turkey. I am a person who has been trying to support education with his family for years without expecting any benefit, without calculating any office; only with a sense of conscientious responsibility.
At the same time, due to my party affiliation and respect for the founding values of our Republic; I am a CHP member who has been paying his dues regularly every month, especially for the last 10 years, producing and putting into practice dozens of education-oriented projects for the benefit of people, society and our country, and struggling completely with his own means without any support from any institution or organization.
Now I ask you:
I'm the criminal type?
Are those who carry coats and boots to keep children warm criminal?
Are those who fulfill the wishes in the letters written by children in village schools to fulfill their dreams criminal?
Are people who have been paying dues to his party for years and struggling with their labor and sweat criminal?
Moreover, while we were waiting in front of the CHP Headquarters, stones and bottles were thrown at the people there, and aggressive attitudes were displayed that increased the tension; the real grave picture emerged later in the day.
As the public has seen, at three o'clock in the morning, hundreds of people, who were not even known to be party members, invaded the headquarters of the founding party of the Republic of Turkey and turned the building into a war zone.
Attacks were made with fire extinguishers, windows and frames were broken, the walls of the rooms were defiled with ugly slogans, detergents were poured on the floor, fire hoses were opened and the interior of the building was rendered unusable, sofas, chairs and wooden materials were smashed, and everything was deliberately vandalized. The headquarters of a party that founded a state has been transformed into a center of anger, uncontrollability and vandalism.
Now we must ask again:
Who are the people targeted by Mr. Özgür Özel by calling them “criminal types”?
People who have been paying their party dues for years, who are there exercising their democratic right?
Or are they the ones who turned the headquarters into a war zone, damaged public property, acted with aggression and provocation?
We were there with our conscience, our political stance and our democratic right.
We did not damage anyone's property.
We didn't attack anyone.
We have never been part of any vandalism.
But today, we are the ones who are attacked, marginalized and blamed.
This is precisely what we object to.
Because today, people who think differently within the CHP, who act with their conscience and especially those who oppose the systematic discrediting campaigns against Mr. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu are consciously marginalized and subjected to intense attacks and insults.
But we are nobody's enemies.
We object to the complete destruction of morality, labor, loyalty and political courtesy.
Because in recent times, politics has been transformed from a platform for the competition of ideas into a space for lynch culture and discrediting operations.
The organized attacks on Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu that have been going on for years are not just political criticism. This process has turned into a severe perception operation aimed at systematically isolating, devaluing and erasing a person from memory.
However, it should not be forgotten:
Everyone who can speak freely in this party today is able to do so thanks to the struggle of people who paid a great price in the past.
Despite lynchings, threats and attacks, Mr. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has pursued a politics that has not backed down. He touched the conscience of millions with his March for Justice and tried to mend the polarized fault lines of this country with his call for a reconciliation.
What we stand for today is not a matter of a seat, it is a matter of conscience.
This is precisely why it is unacceptable to target people with terms like “criminal type” just because they stand by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
This language is not unifying but divisive.
This approach is not democratic but exclusionary.
This discourse is not political maturity, it is the language of anger.
As a matter of fact, the lack of a clear stance in the face of the immoral slogans against Mr. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu at the Izmir rally shows how deep this fracture has become. Because a political struggle can be conducted within the limits of criticism; however, normalizing slogans that include insulting, discrediting and hateful language against a person is neither compatible with political morality nor with the deep-rooted culture of the Republican People's Party. Every insult that is kept silent increases the social decay a little more.
The Republican People's Party has to be a space of democratic struggle where ideas are freely discussed, not a place where people with different opinions insult each other.
No one can insult people who have spent years working for this party, this country and for the benefit of society.
No one can call us “criminal types”.
This is my open call to Mr. Özgür Özel:
He should publicly apologize for this hurtful and divisive statement.
Because politics is the art of keeping society together, not labeling people.
And it should not be forgotten:
There may be those who try to silence people of conscience.
But the day the voice of conscience is silenced, the soul of politics collapses.
Epilogue
The Republican tree grows not through hatred, but through social conscience and labor.
Respectfully
28.05.2026
Kadir POLAT wrote