{"id":281476,"date":"2026-01-14T16:41:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T16:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/?p=281476"},"modified":"2026-01-14T18:28:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:28:48","slug":"searching-for-fire-when-there-is-smoke-is-the-price-of-betrayal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/searching-for-fire-when-there-is-smoke-is-the-price-of-betrayal\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching for Fire in the Smoke: The Price of Betrayal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-281482\" src=\"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/brhnetml.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/brhnetml.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/brhnetml-18x10.jpg 18w, https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/brhnetml-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/brhnetml-696x392.jpg 696w, https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/brhnetml-1068x601.jpg 1068w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/>There are some words in politics that are applauded as soon as they are uttered.<br \/>\nBut it often does not tell the whole truth.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. B\u00fclent Ar\u0131n\u00e7 <em>\u201cIn politics, they cut off the head of the early crowing rooster\u201d<\/em> is one of them.<br \/>\nIt is true; an early show of power in politics is risky.<br \/>\nHowever, it is incomplete.<br \/>\nBecause this word describes the result, not the cause.<\/p>\n<p>The real question is this:<br \/>\nWhy does a politician sing early?<\/p>\n<p>In the case of Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu, every comment made without asking this question is to look only at the frame of the photo and not to see inside.<\/p>\n<h3>Is Imamoglu's Rapid Rise a Coincidence?<\/h3>\n<p>Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu's pre-political life is similar to that of many medium-sized business people in Anatolia.<br \/>\nFamily businesses, construction, real estate, tourism...<br \/>\n2019 mal beyan\u0131na g\u00f6re, \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019nun %60 hissedar\u0131 oldu\u011fu \u015firketin sermayesi 4 milyon 200 bin TL.<\/p>\n<p>He enters politics as CHP Beylikd\u00fcz\u00fc District Chairman,<br \/>\nbecomes the Mayor of Beylikd\u00fcz\u00fc after one term,<br \/>\nfrom there to the presidency of Turkey's largest municipality.<\/p>\n<p>Who was the architect of this rapid rise?<br \/>\nKemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu.<\/p>\n<p>And then what happened?<\/p>\n<h3>Presidential Election: Silent Sabotage?<\/h3>\n<p>Another critical threshold is the presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>What would have happened if Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu had won this election?<br \/>\nHe would have become the most powerful political figure in Turkey.<br \/>\nNo matter who he nominated for Istanbul in the local elections, CHP would most likely win.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, \u0130mamo\u011flu's fate would be completely between K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu's two lips.<\/p>\n<p>Caution:<br \/>\n- The energy for the assembly,<br \/>\n- He was not nominated in the presidential election.<br \/>\n- The election was lost,<br \/>\n- This was followed by the discourse that \u201cK\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu should no longer be the chairman\u201d.<\/p>\n<h3>Why has K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu become an \u201cobstacle\u201d?<\/h3>\n<p>According to the allegations, Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu took an active role in the CHP congress process to prevent Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu from being re-elected as the chairman.<br \/>\nThere were even serious allegations of bribery of delegates.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Because if K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu had won the congress:<br \/>\n- He would single-handedly determine the candidates for local elections,<br \/>\n- It would increase the emphasis on \u201cclean politics\u201d,<br \/>\n- And most importantly, he could not have nominated Imamo\u011flu as a candidate for Istanbul.<\/p>\n<p>This meant the de facto end of Imamo\u011flu's political life.<\/p>\n<p>And the CHP continued with \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel, a man who was in full allegiance to \u0130mamo\u011flu.<\/p>\n<h3>Why did he say \u201cI am a candidate\u201d so early?<\/h3>\n<p>The key phrase here is:<br \/>\nIt's in the eye of the beholder.<\/p>\n<p>Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu is the person who knows best what he did during his term as mayor.<br \/>\nHe also foresaw a possible judicial process and operation to come.<\/p>\n<p>That's why:<br \/>\n- 3.5 years before the elections,<br \/>\n- Out of the blue,<br \/>\n\u201cHe had to say \u201dI am a presidential candidate\".<\/p>\n<p>This was not political courage but political necessity.<\/p>\n<h3>The Story of Money<\/h3>\n<p>Presidential candidacy is not a romantic slogan; it is a serious cost.<\/p>\n<p>A rally in a province:<br \/>\n- Scene,<br \/>\n- Sound system,<br \/>\n- Security,<br \/>\n- Logistics,<br \/>\n- Media...<\/p>\n<p>Average cost: 3 million TL.<\/p>\n<p>If you hold rallies in 50 provinces: 150 million TL and let's assume that this lasts until his official candidacy is announced; the figure reaches billions when election offices, personnel and materials are added.<\/p>\n<p>And where did this money come from?<br \/>\n- He can't get it from the municipality,<br \/>\n- He can't get it from the CHP,<br \/>\n- Since he is not an official candidate, he cannot collect donations.<\/p>\n<p>The capital of the family business is 4.2 million TL.<\/p>\n<p>This math doesn't work.<\/p>\n<h3>Perception Operation<\/h3>\n<p>The state monitors everything.<br \/>\nImamo\u011flu knew this and the state knew what he was doing.<\/p>\n<p>So what had to be done was this:<br \/>\nTo turn a possible legal process into a political one.<\/p>\n<p>An Imamo\u011flu who is not a presidential candidate,<br \/>\npublic opinion<strong> \u201ca mayor accused of corruption\u201d<\/strong> it would be.<\/p>\n<p>Imamoglu is the presidential candidate:<br \/>\n<em>\u201cThere is an operation against me\u201d<\/em> he was able to say.<\/p>\n<p>And the spokesperson of this perception on the ground,<br \/>\nalmost like a figurehead president,<br \/>\n\u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel took over.<\/p>\n<h3>Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>At first people believed.<br \/>\n\u201cThis is a political operation,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>But as time went by, the following phrase became embedded in the memory of the society:<\/p>\n<p>Where there is no fire, there is no smoke.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe it's the issue,<br \/>\nnot why the early crowing cock is decapitated,<br \/>\nwhy he had to crow so early.<\/p>\n<p>And therein lies the real answer.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The state watches everything. Imamo\u011flu knew this, the state knew what he was doing.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":281482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[286],"tags":[289],"class_list":["post-281476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-yazarlar","tag-manset"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281476"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281483,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281476\/revisions\/281483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}