Necip F. Bahadır
Thousands of police officers were mobilized just so “trustee” Gürsel Tekin could enter the provincial headquarters in Turkey. Roads were blocked, the building surrounded, and party members prevented from entering. When tensions rose, police resorted to tear gas. Scuffles broke out; even members of parliament were shoved and manhandled.
The scenes were broadcast live, the disgrace witnessed by the entire world. Images of the police blockade made headlines in international media, accompanied by words like party, police, trustee, blockade, scuffle, tear gas.
Did trustee Gürsel Tekin actually manage to enter the building? Yes—but only by pushing through a wall of police. This, despite his earlier declaration that he would “not enter by force.” Tekin himself had once described the place as his “father’s home,” since he had previously been elected as provincial chair by party delegates. Now, however, he was imposed from above.
But who imposed him—the judiciary, or the ruling AKP? Tekin had been a disillusioned CHP figure who once publicly announced his resignation. Now, as a court-appointed “trustee,” he entered under police escort. This is not the first time trustees have faced resistance, but rarely has it been so blatant.
Police Power as a Political Tool
Resorting to police force in every dispute has become the AKP government’s hallmark. When legitimacy is absent, brute force fills the void. Citizens are confronted with riot police, tear gas, and water cannons instead of dialogue.
Traditionally, governments avoid pitting security forces against citizens. They sometimes even step back to prevent escalation, knowing that while power is temporary, history and archives never forget.
Yet, forcing a trustee into a political party building with police power may be a first—not only in Turkey, but globally. Parties have been banned before, doors locked by judicial fiat, and extraordinary rulings like the infamous “367 decision” issued. But no government had ever dared to depose a provincial party head by court order and impose a trustee in this way. It violates the very spirit of law and politics.
AKP’s Legitimacy Crisis
CHP was right to declare the trustee appointment illegitimate. Otherwise, politics itself would lose all meaning. Resistance was the only democratic response; surrendering would mean forfeiting the struggle for democracy.
Though the stage was a CHP building, the real actor was the AKP. The judiciary was not independent—it was executing Erdoğan’s political strategy. Both domestic and international observers recognize this.
CHP leader Özgür Özel stated: “We do not recognize the court’s decision.” Erdoğan fired back, accusing him of “defying the rule of law.” But what “rule of law” remains in Turkey? Years earlier, Erdoğan himself had openly refused to recognize Constitutional Court decisions, declaring: “I do not accept it, I do not respect it.” His government has also ignored rulings of the European Court of Human Rights.
Internal Dissent and Uneasy Supporters
Tekin may have climbed the steps into the building, but there was no embrace waiting inside—only rejection, as if he were an intruder. Asked whether it made sense to arrive with “5,000 police officers,” he had no answer. His political career now carries the stigma of being a “trustee.”
Even within AKP circles, unease surfaced. Veteran AKP figure Şamil Tayyar warned, “You do not understand the state or society—they will teach you.” Another, former CHP member turned AKP loyalist Savcı Sayan, admitted: “We are making a huge mistake. This process harms the President himself. Neither my mind nor my conscience accepts it.”
Even pro-AKP journalist Nagehan Alçı voiced alarm: “The country is going off the rails. I am very worried and unhappy.”
But hasn’t it long been off the rails? These are simply signs that the collapse is accelerating. States do not fall suddenly—they roll toward the abyss step by step.
A Dark Anniversary
September 9 is a symbolic date: the anniversary of the Turkish victory at İzmir in 1922, when invading Greek forces were driven into the sea, and also the founding anniversary of the CHP. Yet on this historic day, Turkey’s oldest party found itself besieged under police guard.
Today’s struggle is no longer merely partisan. It is about democracy itself, in a country under the grip of the AKP. Like the Mongols who once swept through, the AKP government has plundered everything—not just the treasury, but even sacred values, justice, and morality.
Politics in Turkey is now conducted under police blockade. The CHP is under siege. What we are witnessing is nothing less than an AKP-style post–post-modern coup.
No, I am not surprised. What else could emerge from a night of darkness and nightmares?
