Burning the country for a seat
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality trial has collapsed, and Aziz İhsan Aktaş has been made a laughing stock. The espionage case has acted like a boomerang, returning to strike the government. The contact list of the man arrested on suspicion of spying are full of names of AKP members. As if all this were not enough, the economic fire in the country continues to rage. Pensioners are on their feet, and trade unions are preparing to take to the streets, demanding a “new minimum wage in July.” From Yozgat, Konya, Rize… the cries of protests from shopkeepers and producers are rising from every place previously cited as a stronghold of the AKP.
Under these conditions, the government is moving like a truck with failed brakes heading downhill. Journalist, trade unionist, activist, mayor, politician; it attempts to crush whoever stands in its way. There are no rules, no regulations, and no ethical values. Dozens of bureaucrats and hundreds of trolls, who have been handed notes saying “we must win at any cost,” are all shouting in unison, attempting to dictate the country’s political atmosphere. All so that Turkey’s problems are not discussed and its scandals are not brought to light.
ERDOĞAN’S SCRIPTIn 24 years, the government has become so worn out that it has reached a level where it cannot go out to the streets to drink tea and have a word with the citizens. The citizens’ anger toward the AKP is turning into a permanent hatred with each passing day. Even the polling figures that reflect this and make Erdoğan unhappy are now quite insufficient to demonstrate this fury. Especially when the undecided votes are distributed, the AKP votes that still appear around 30 percent do not even come close to representing the scale of the anger. A 30 percent figure is far from being believable, even for AKP members. Because they, too, are aware that a very significant portion of the undecided voters actually consists of those who have abandoned the AKP forever.
The picture described above became clearer with the answer given to an additional question that research companies use to analyse high undecided votes. That question was: “Is there a party you say you would never vote for?” According to information we received from research companies, nearly 70 percent of the undecided group states they will “never” vote for the AKP. When this data is taken into account, it is evident that we are facing a government that has actually fallen below 25 percent. The AKP has already entered the ranks of those who can “never” be preferred.
This is the point that Erdoğan does not want to understand or accept. The rote belief that if the opposition is suppressed and dispersed, society will be left helpless and will turn back to the government, maintains its strong presence around the Palace. He attempted to sideline Ekrem İmamoğlu (Mayor of Istanbul) due to this same rote strategy. Again, due to the same arrogance, he failed to correctly grasp the “March 19th protest” that followed. He eventually attributed the reason for the March 19th protest to Özgür Özel (Chairman of the CHP) and the existence of the CHP. That is why he is now trying to crush him. They believe that if they succeed in crushing first İmamoğlu and now Özel, everything will be resolved in their favour.
THE POWER OF ÖZGÜR ÖZEL
Attacking with all weapons from the judiciary to the media, the government also shows that it will recognise no law or ethical rule on this path. It resorts to every kind of lie and trickery. Although the subject and the object change, a new era of “be it a montage or not” has been initiated once again by Erdoğan’s hand.
Despite all this, it is difficult to say that he has achieved the desired result. At the end of the day, Erdoğan’s strategy has now turned into the power of Özel and the CHP. The CHP, the founding party of the state which has spent the last two years under extraordinary conditions and the “judicial stick,” has managed to produce its own solutions against all attacks coming from inside and outside. While acknowledging the credit due to Özel and the party leadership, it is useful to point out the actual force in play. This is the citizens’ preference for change—a mass that Erdoğan has ignored from the start and viewed as a group that could be manipulated. The demand for change stands as the most significant barrier before the government. Because no matter the issue, no matter who or what the subject is, the public asks only one question: “Who does this situation serve?”
The fact that the citizenry is in this state also determines the mood of Özgür Özel and the CHP executives. Our meeting with Özgür Özel at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on Tuesday confirmed this idea. It is significant that a mechanism has been established that continues to function despite dozens of problems occurring on the same day. The main motivation behind this is hidden in the assessment Özel made during our conversation, pointing to the Rize rally: “The people are doing more than their part.”
The government, which is weakening but holds a massive state machine in its hands, knows it can never win the public’s favour again. It is also of the opinion that it has no choice but to rule them through pressure and intimidation rather than by obtaining consent. Despite this, there are millions of people who do not surrender and who express their objections strongly at every opportunity. In that case, one must return to the issue of “mobilisation” that CHP leader Özel insisted upon during the meeting and demanded for the opposition.
Against the total attack carried out by the government, there is a need for a social opposition that has a goal, stands together under all conditions, and strengthens its organisation step by step; and this has not yet been formed.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Koltuk için memleketi yakıyorlar, published in BirGün newspaper on May 14, 2026.
Kaynak: BirGün
