Turkish people are closely watching the steps of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).
There are several reasons for such interest. Firstly, the CHP is the second largest party today and appears as an alternative when the government ceases to be in power or fails to win the election. On the one hand, the CHP was the founding party of the Republic of Türkiye and led the country from single-party authoritarianism to multi-party democracy and conducted some particular works thereof. On the other hand, it is a party that has been the pioneer of modernization in Türkiye and has also caused traumas in all segments of society from time to time with Jacobin practices. The CHP has left almost no unscathed sector of society among leftists, nationalists, Kurds, and Islamists.
The CHP traumatized the country's Alevi community in the past. The Alevism initiative has been on the agenda lately. We all know that during the single-party era, the armed forces bombed Dersim (part of today's Tunceli, Erzincan, Elazığ, Sivas, Malatya, and Bingöl cities) by planes, and the bodies of thousands of citizens were abandoned on the streets. The armed forces have suppressed the rebellion attempt of a bunch of insurgents provoked by unfortunate events, using disproportionate force.
No matter how you look at it, another step of the CHP to be followed enthusiastically is its Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's recent visit to the United States.
As we all know, the U.S. is the largest and most influential economy and the dominant political power in the world. There have been significant shocks through these power balances during the so-called new world order. Nevertheless, we cannot deny the power of the U.S. Therefore. There is nothing more natural for an opposition party leader than to go to the U.S. and hold political talks there. In other words, every political party can engage in dialogues in different countries as long as they prioritize their national interests.
However, U.S. President Joe Biden's statements before he came to power are still fresh in the memories. He had clearly stated that they wanted to defeat President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and remove him from office, not with the usual methods and coups but through supporting the opposition. Regardless of whether the opposition has anything to do with this mindset, Kılıçdaroğlu's visit has been under the shadow of Biden's words. There is one more group that Kılıçdaroğlu will always be sensitive to and stays away from the Gulenist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).
Especially when the Türkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) started to clash with FETÖ after the military coup attempt of 15 July 2016, the CHP and the Good Party (IP) took a closer stance to FETÖ with the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" understanding. Therefore, Kılıçdaroğlu should or is afraid of getting into the same frame as this group.
Kılıçdaroğlu did not appear with Biden nor with FETÖ. He avoided it as much as possible. But beyond that, his contacts and the meetings he conducted did not make much sense either. He met some economists whom he could have met online, or the party could have invited the experts to Türkiye for more fruitful seminars or events where more party members or Turkish experts could benefit.
What remained was to make meaningless travel meaningful. Here, a period of eight lost hours comes onto the stage in connection with a visit that was a fiasco from beginning to end, from planning to implementation, from the participants to the interlocutors. So, since there was nothing else to concentrate on, all eyes focused on these eight hours.
To whom did he talk? Did he meet with Biden or anyone in his government? Did he see the members of the terrorist organization that have given up all their hopes and turned hostile to Türkiye? Nobody knows. Perhaps Kılıçdaroğlu invented such eight hours purposely to make the visit meaningful, which was senseless and pointless.
Among many comments on how Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu executed his trip to the United States, one expressed in a private conversation was striking. An undisclosed former U.S. politician who closely follows Türkiye implied that if this trip were to mirror his organizational and management skills, people should be concerned about how he would run Türkiye, a country struggling with complex issues.
