Can Baydarol
Recent developments have made it increasingly inevitable that Özgür Özel and his colleagues will form a new party. History will surely not remember Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in very favourable terms. Unfortunately, the transformation from a highly respected figure into a political personality remembered for negative attributes has already gone down in the annals as a mistake a politician should never have made.
Let us now turn to the possible developments awaiting the ‘new party’—the name of which we do not yet know fully, but which we understand is on the verge of being established. I am writing these lines drawing on my experience with the New Turkey Party, where I shared part of my political journey with İsmail Cem, whom I remember with respect and fondness some 24 years ago.
When MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli, having decided to break up the DSP-ANAP-MHP coalition, led Turkey into an early election on 2 November 2002, a party—the New Turkey Party (YTP)—was founded under the leadership of İsmail Cem, Hüsamettin Özkan and Kemal Derviş (who would later join the CHP rather than the YTP), alongside a group of MPs who had left the DSP. The YTP, which had been expected to secure around 35 per cent of the vote upon its formation, would rapidly lose support due to Derviş’s disruptive role—despite his reputation as the main guarantor of the economy—and, if I recall correctly, would end its political life by securing around 1.5 per cent of the vote in the 2 November 2002 election.
To avoid any misunderstanding, let me state straight away that my joining the YTP, along with a few very dear friends, took place after Derviş’s decision to join the CHP. In other words, we had become members of the YTP at a time when the party’s chances of winning seats had all but vanished.
Let us recall those days once more: Cem was the Foreign Minister in the coalition government and, inevitably, was working closely with the US Secretary of State at the time, Condoleezza Rice.
The US was on the very brink of intervening in Iraq and intended to launch this intervention using Turkey’s south-eastern territories. As you will recall, the US visited Prime Minister Ecevit to discuss these objectives; the late Ecevit opposed the US demands and spoke of his intention to open a new border crossing to increase trade with Iraq for the sake of stabilising the country. Following the late Ecevit’s remarks, his health would rapidly deteriorate. This inevitably leads us to ask whether Bahçeli’s decision to break up the DSP-ANAP-MHP coalition under these circumstances, and the behaviour he had displayed in recent times, were mere coincidences.
Around the same time, I had asked the late Cem, ‘What did you say to Rice about Iraq?’ ‘Whatever the Prime Minister said, I repeated exactly the same thing!’ he replied. I vaguely recall saying, ‘Now I understand better why we’ve ended up in this situation!’
And what about the late Derviş?
After being elected as an MP for the CHP
As is well known, on 1 March 2003, a vote was held on a motion regarding the use of south-eastern territories, as requested by the US, for intervention in Iraq, and the granting of a base to the US in the Black Sea. The motion was blocked in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) as some AKP MPs, in whom the US had placed great trust, and all CHP MPs voted against it. I learnt from a late CHP MP—whose name I shall keep to myself, as he was a very close friend—that Derviş was deeply upset by this vote. Of course, the military wing’s abstention on the vote would also be the cause of many political and legal developments we experienced subsequently. To put it in modern terms, “the veto players would be sidelined over time”.
In the light of the events of that day, I was also the author of the remarks that greatly angered CHP members. I had said: “Since it does not allow for the emergence of a sensible political organisation, the CHP, in its current form, should be closed down and turned into a museum of the revolution, and all its living former chairmen should be made museum keepers, never to leave the museum!” I would like to ask the surviving former party leaders to accept my apology. However, I must also express my deep regret that, some 24 years after uttering those words, I have been proved right.
Let us now turn to the new party, whose establishment is now only a matter of time…
Please, above all, do not fall into the trap of foreign policy blunders. You must never entertain the idea of withdrawing from NATO. The institutions in which we have the right to vote are our most important safeguard. A clash with the US, particularly under the Trump administration, is inevitable. However, conduct that conflict not through individuals but through the institutional relationships that form the basis of foreign policy. Do not delay in adopting the rhetoric and actions that will guarantee you will re-establish the institutional structure that has been reduced to nothing, in order to demonstrate this ability.
Unfortunately, Turkey’s growing strategic importance is assessed solely in terms of its military and defence industry. Proclaim to the whole world that Turkey will be a democratic, secular, social state that respects the rule of law, and that it wishes to be recognised as such. Only in this way can we stem the erosion of trust we have faced in recent times.
Whilst there is much more to be said, let us bring this piece to a close for now, wishing those who set out on their journey a clear path ahead.
To a brighter tomorrow, in which we shall not lose hope…