Politics Collective
Türkiye has been debating the developments that followed the judiciary's absolute nullity ruling regarding the Republican People's Party (CHP) convention for more than two weeks. First of all, it is impossible to view these occurrences purely as an internal CHP matter: it must be very clearly evaluated that the nullity move, and the subsequent placement of Kılıçdaroğlu at the head of the CHP, is one of the steps taken by the US-backed Palace regime to remain in power. What we are experiencing today is nothing other than the Palace's intervention into the political sphere via absolute nullity continuing in its “normal course”. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and his team, who were reappointed to the head of the CHP by trampling over all rules of law through the hand of the government’s judiciary, are fulfilling the duty assigned to them by once again trampling over all rules of law. Liquidationism, informantism and collaborationism are being maintained without showing any moral hesitation. The reality masked by the rhetoric of purification, clean politics, etc., is that the nullity-faction appointed by the government will not relinquish the party management until they complete the task given to them. Hoping that the will of the party base or the delegates will be consulted once again is a major delusion. To think that those who came to power through a coup will implement intra-party democracy can only and solely be explained by political blindness.
The structure regarding leader autocracy, which draws its power from the current Law on Political Parties, was never democratic, let alone during the era of general chairmen who came to power via a coup, even if they were elected through “normal” routes. Delegate games, the financing of politics through municipal or state resources, and a culture of allegiance to the leader rather than proximity to the public have consistently been the main political culture of the CHP, alongside other parties. There should be absolutely no doubt that they will now use the power they obtained through a judicial coup to liquidate their opponents. Kılıçdaroğlu’s understanding of politics resembles that of Erdoğan, who assigned him his duty, more and more with each passing day. However, the relationship here should not be understood as a simple 'superior-subordinate' relationship. The dominant politics and the Palace regime needed the Kılıçdaroğlu line to keep the opposition within the system. To satisfy this need, it cleared a space for Kılıçdaroğlu through the judiciary. Now, Kılıçdaroğlu and his team are implementing the politics they learned from their “master”, Erdoğan.
STATE FORCE, NOT STATE REASON
The intra-party practices aimed at liquidating Özgür Özel and his team, carried out in harmony with the government, are at the same time in complete harmony with the roadmap drawn by the government in foreign policy. When Kılıçdaroğlu’s support for Ottomanist fantasies—the hallmark of the AKP is considered alongside a dressing of “state reason”, it shows very clearly that the CHP will also be made a partner in the moves to take part along the US-Israel axis in the Middle East. With his recent foreign policy analyses, Kılıçdaroğlu is increasingly becoming a part of the same chorus as Erdoğan, while revealing that he is an eager supporter of the imperial plan into which the AKP has dragged Türkiye.
The dominant politics, which draws the boundaries of politics by calling it “state reason”, seemingly intends to maintain the war against the public through “state force” as long as it fails to receive support from the public. Therefore, it is impossible to win either the fight inside the CHP or the fight to be waged against the current government by remaining within the boundaries of dominant politics.
In this “transition period” experienced through wars and power struggles globally, Türkiye is situated right next to the most critical arenas. The Russia-Ukraine war, the conflicts in Syria which recently emerged from a civil war, and lastly, the developments in Iran, which has been dragged into war by the US-Israeli attack, constitute the most scorching points of the “ring of fire” in foreign policy. Türkiye’s foreign policy, which for many years leaned its back on the regional policies of the US with dreams of “expansionism” and was conducted from time to time by taking into account the rifts between the US and Russia, has today settled upon the US-Israel axis alongside a fondness for Trump. The inevitable consequence of this line is to flawlessly play the regional role carved out for Türkiye by American policies. The developments taking place in domestic politics cannot be understood without taking this role into account.
THE REGIME IS BEING SHAPED WITHIN THE REGION
Neither the “Türkiye without terrorism” process brought onto the political agenda by Bahçeli with a sharp U-turn, nor the program to liquidate the opposition through the judiciary, can be considered separately from the foreign policy context. Although various fluctuations have been experienced since the day the AKP was carried into power, Türkiye, positioned essentially in accordance with imperial plans, is now on the threshold of a critical transformation as a result of all this.
An attempt is being made to stage the final blow of the scenarios to reshape the Middle East, voiced by imperialist centres from the very beginning. After the “area clearance” stretching from Libya to Syria, and from Iraq to Lebanon is secured for the safety of Israel, it is intended to complete the circle by disciplining Iran. At this point, the role assigned to Türkiye is to deploy alongside the West in the realisation of these imperial plans, and Türkiye has followed a trouble-free line regarding playing this role up until today through the hand of the AKP government. Acting radical in rhetoric but compliant in action during the genocide in Gaza, the AKP, while on one hand continuing trade with Israel, has on the other hand been dragged to the point of signing the Abraham Accords.
The point we have reached now is that while the Middle East is being reshaped, the regime in Türkiye will also be reshaped. When the historical policies of imperialism shaped on the basis of hostility towards the peoples of the world and likewise the anti-democratic, oppressive practice of the AKP government are considered, there is no need to fall into doubt regarding the character of this new regime. It is very obvious that Erdoğan, who receives his legitimacy from Trump by the hand of Barack, envisions a regime where democracy is shelved, the opposition is rendered ineffective, elections are turned into a mere showcase, and ethnic and religious identities are brought to the fore.
A one-man regime aligned with imperial plans, in which the Turkish bourgeoisie and pro-government capital add profit to their profits, is now being pushed onto the stage as the common aspiration of all exploiting classes. This is a very clear counter-revolutionary move through which all the gains of the Republican regime, the foundations of which were laid with a war of national liberation against imperialism, are eliminated, and the wheel of the Westernisation orientation maintained for centuries is turned towards Middle-Easternisation.
THE PLAY-ACTING OF DEMOCRACY
The Turkish bourgeoisie, which made its choice in favour of American imperialism in the 1950s and thrived through this, and the state bureaucracy, whose eyes were blinded by anti-communism, are among the main culprits of the situation we are dragged into today. “Political Islamism”, which was protected and nurtured against communism for years, has transformed all its primary ideological arguments in the person of Erdoğan, cast off the “National Vision” shirt, and manifested as the political vehicle of the relationship that Turkish capitalism established with imperialism. When we address recent events from this perspective, it is not surprising that the opposition is brought into line from the top down by the hand of the government, and that voluntary supporters from the state level like Kılıçdaroğlu emerge at this point. It is very obvious that periods of great upheaval or changing tracks cannot be passed through painlessly and quietly.
Since 12 September [1980], politics in Türkiye has been designed as an area that only a limited number of rulers can engage in, where the public is kept outside of politics, and where oppositional movements brewing within society are suppressed with oppression and tyranny. Prior to 12 September, the political practices of the lower classes claiming their own destiny, which began in schools, factories and neighbourhoods—boycotts, strikes, the search for rights and the structuring of agricultural workers—were initially sought to be suppressed by civilian fascist movements. The failure to achieve this and the emergence of strong tendencies to resist brought about the suppression of social awakening and left-socialist movements through the open fascist coup of 12 September.
Those who created 12 September defined a new area of politics through election and political parties laws, and constitutional restrictions. All kinds of organisational rights, foremost those of trade unions, were narrowed. Politics was gradually defined as an area belonging solely to the central management of political parties, and even gradually to party chairs. While the participation of the public in politics was limited only to election processes, elections—with all their unequal competitive features—were transformed into a spectacle where the public is condemned to approve those chosen by the leaders. Moves to disrupt this game were completed either by removing elected officials from office through trustees or by throwing them into prisons with groundless accusations. The play-acting of democracy is now being tried to be maintained with the same logic.
THE GOVERNMENT IS CREATING ITS OWN GRAVEDIGGERS
The multi-layered crisis environment into which Türkiye has been dragged demonstrates that this kind of “stately” politics has come to an end. This is the fundamental reason behind government spokespersons constantly calling for "Kılıçdaroğlu-style opposition to be conducted", and Bahçeli’s anxiety in the advice he gives to withdraw politics from social life back to Ankara. The fact that Özgür Özel mobilised his own base in the political arena, carried an understanding of mass struggle to the center of politics, and put forward an alternative against the dissolution of dominant politics dragged the representatives of the old political order into a great panic.
The possibility of this dynamic coming from below putting an end to their own rule is the fundamental reason why they risk every kind of unlawfulness. In fact, these moves by the government are not new; every social opposition movement was penalised in this manner. Osman Kavala, the Gezi prisoners and Selahattin Demirtaş were thrown into prisons for this reason. Now, the same policies are being implemented against CHP executives.
However, fear is of no avail to death. As dominant politics disconnects from the demands of the public, it gradually creates its own death and its own gravediggers. As it loads the burden of the crisis onto the shoulders of the public, it encounters the resistance of mine workers and pensioners; it comes face to face with the rebellion of university students claiming their schools, which were closed by arbitrary decisions; as it attempts the plunder of nature, environmental resistances spread; women assume the banner of opposing inequalities and femicides. Dominant politics is cracking in every field. As the process launched as “Türkiye without terrorism” gives birth to a “mouse”, the grumbling of the oppressed increases, and the anger of those marginalized due to their religious, ethnic and sexual identities grows. A new politics is gradually strengthening and brewing within society. This is the main process that also influences what is going on over the CHP.
Of course, it is undisputedly true that the CHP and the worldview it represents are crippled by extreme limitations at the point of solving the problems of a Türkiye floundering in a knot of deep-rooted problems. For that reason, an understanding of opposition that turns its face towards the social demands of the public and unites these demands on a ground of unified struggle is of burning importance.
The line of resistance shaped around Özgür Özel, in which the public actively participates in politics, must of course also be deemed important. There is no harm in emphasizing that it is an important factor in maintaining a unified understanding of opposition and, in the short term, in bringing the one-man regime to an end. The issue lies at the point of taking action to unite this new area of politics around the same goal with the line of resistance deepening within the public.
Let us know that a regime that is gradually breaking its connection with social life and decaying will not collapse on its own. Ending this dark period depends on all progressive, revolutionary forces of Türkiye taking initiative and embodying a unified revolutionary opposition within social struggles. It is in our hands to re-establish this country as an independentist, anti-imperialist, free, democratic country in peace, where the people are sovereign. With this awareness, we are faced with a historic duty. Now, we must bring together all oppositional forces that want to get rid of this regime in the poor neighbourhoods of big cities, on provincial streets, in village squares, in factories and in university canteens. While social forces maintain their own unique demands, we must form a unified political line demonstrating that their solution lies in putting an end to the one-man regime.
There is no room for despair; repression will bring resistance, and resistance will bring victory. This is the sole reality that the entire history of struggle has taught us.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Siyasetin sınırlarını halk belirleyecek, published in BirGün newspaper on June 14, 2026.
