Call it political acumen or experience; it’s impossible not to tip your hat to AKP President Erdoğan’s post-election performance. Having entered an unfree and unfair election with all state resources at his back, Erdoğan emerged from a historic defeat and launched a rhetoric of ‘softening in politics’ to mitigate the devastation within his party.
Özgür Özel, the new leader of CHP, instead of leveraging the election victory to boost his party’s sails, chose to dive headfirst into Erdoğan’s trap. I won’t repeat here the mistakes in strategy I covered in my last piece about the CHP leader.
After that article, a meeting with MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli confirmed my predictions. Riding along with Erdoğan and his partner Bahçeli, Özgür Özel rushed into discussions with ‘Ak Trolls.’ He even shared cheerful photos with Aktrolls, who had heavily insulted him.
Of course, I am not in a position to teach or advise the CHP leader on politics. However, I must remind that I know Erdoğan and his AKP surroundings better than he does. Like after the June 2015 elections, Erdoğan is now stalling the opposition with ‘exploratory talks.’
What Özgür Özel and the CHP brass fail to understand is this; the source of the problems you file under your arm and address is none other than Erdoğan and his regime, built on the July 15 coup plot.
Treating the problem’s creator as a solution will get you nowhere. Moreover, if voters were looking for solutions in Erdoğan, Bahçeli, or their corrupt mafia-like system, they would have voted for them, not the CHP. Well, once again, Erdoğan has managed to set the agenda.
I say this not to compare him with his past, as Erdoğan is far from his old strength, both politically and physically. He’s struggling to produce statements or set agendas. Yet, remember, even in his weakened and stumbling state, he remains powerful. After all, he’s been in power for 22 years with all state components at his command.
Erdoğan, even if he wanted, could not soften! Now, about the ‘softening’ rhetoric…
Let’s be clear; Erdoğan cannot soften. The rhetoric of ‘softening in politics’ he puts forward is nothing more than a tactical maneuver. He’s playing for time. Firstly, Erdoğan deliberately chose this path, the path to a one-man, one-party regime.
When he carried out a constitutional coup after the 2013 major corruption and bribery operation and disrupted the bureaucracy and judiciary, it was clear where we were heading. Today, even if he wanted to, Erdoğan ‘cannot soften’ because his regime must rule with an ‘iron fist.’ Additionally, if you haven’t learned Erdoğan’s mindset after all these years, it’s impossible now.
The issue is this; with the rhetoric of ‘softening in politics,’ Erdoğan tries to halt the dissolution in his party, plant seeds of discord in the CHP, and find money to recover the economy. Dominating the agenda is just an added bonus.
Otherwise, ‘softening’ is only in language and rhetoric. In reality, the situation is the exact opposite. For example, how can a government that talks about ‘softening’ discuss closing down the DEM Party and appointing trustees to municipalities?
Detention of high school children! But they have even completed preparations for this. Erdoğan, who speaks of ‘softening,’ continues his cruelty through police and judiciary. They even escalated their efforts. The Erdoğan-Ergenekon-MHP alliance, which has been detaining, arresting, torturing, and killing old women, children, and families in prisons for years, has now moved on to a new stage.
To date, Erdoğan’s regime has arbitrarily detained hundreds of thousands of innocent people, subjected them to bad treatment for days, and kept them in prison for years. This time, high school girls were detained. Yes, you heard right. The state is on a child hunt!
Continuing its genocide against the Gülen Community, Erdoğan’s regime detained 38 innocent people in Istanbul. Fourteen of them are high school students around 15 years old. They were detained along with their mothers. The children are spending a four-day detention period in the Juvenile Branch. The others are in the KOM branch. Like hundreds of thousands before them, they are accused of nonsensical things.
People who helped provide shelter and food for children whose parents are in prison were detained. The police proudly announced this ‘operation’ after a long period of technical and physical surveillance.
In a Turkey where the mafia takes over the streets, drug traffickers parcel out the country, and gangs spring up at every corner, the police have left their real work to follow people providing shelter and food assistance to victimized children.
The country’s main opposition, media, intellectuals, and NGOs are playing the three monkeys. Yet, as soon as the news broke, everyone should have crowded in front of the police stations shouting, ‘leave the children alone.’
On the other hand, what a sad situation for Tayyip Erdoğan; nearing the end of his political – perhaps even physical – life, he has truly become Kenan ‘Evren.’ Like the coup leader Kenan Evren, who manipulated Erdal Eren’s age to execute him, Erdoğan is now chasing after high school children.
He claims, “There’s a need for softening in politics!” but in practice, he chases children like a pharaoh. Yes, Erdoğan’s detention centers are full of high school children. No matter how much you boast, it’s not enough!
