The centre of developments is clearly the unprecedented intervention by the ruling bloc against the main opposition party, aimed at destroying all remaining democratic accumulation. This process, in which YSK (Yüksek Seçim Kurulu – Supreme Election Council) decisions are disregarded and the law is completely trampled underfoot, proves that the judiciary has been instrumentalised at a level that puts even the coup periods to shame. So much so that even Fethi Yıldız from the MHP (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi – Nationalist Movement Party), within the ruling bloc itself, was forced to declare that the court had exceeded the limits of its authority.

Just one day after the decision, Kılıçdaroğlu, who has betrayed both his own party and democracy, called the police into action. The police attacked CHP members with tear gas and plastic bullets. Our comrades in Ankara were also present at the support action. An unprecedentedly aggressive state intervention has been carried out against the main opposition party. This represents the extension of the violent policy that the state has so far largely reserved for the Kurdish political movement, now being directed at the main opposition. Yet there is now a different situation: this intervention against the main opposition also shows that authoritarian aggression has reached a distinctive new stage.

The timing and severity of this intervention are no coincidence.

Kılıçdaroğlu is unaware of the record he has broken

A figure like Kılıçdaroğlu, who has not stepped down despite losing 13 elections in the last 15 years and has taken on a special mission as a project for the ruling power, would not have made it so easy to organise this clear betrayal process had he not still been lingering on the sidelines of the party. After all, this is the same Kılıçdaroğlu whom the entire opposition, just three years ago, desperately tried to unite around to defeat Erdoğan. We remember how someone like Gürsel Tekin was quickly purged after seizing control of the Istanbul provincial organisation. Kılıçdaroğlu, however, has clearly been cool-headed and cunningly focused on what he would do since the issue of absolute nullity came onto the agenda. A person who has lost 13 elections should not even have the face to appear in public, let alone remain part of a party’s leadership; yet Kılıçdaroğlu continues to implement a series of measures and clings tightly to his seat. At Kılıçdaroğlu’s request to the state, the doors of the CHP headquarters were broken down and the police entered with plastic bullets and tear gas. People resisting inside and outside the building were gassed.

There are two main reasons why this kind of attack, previously carried out for years against Kurdish parties, is now being directed at the main opposition party. The first is the potential created by the Özgür Özel and Ekrem İmamoğlu leadership in the CHP, which swept the metropolitan municipalities in the 31 March elections two years ago and rose to the position of first party. While Özgür Özel carries the possibility of breaking the statist and laicist line that has continued since the Deniz Baykal period and building a new political ground, İmamoğlu stands out as a figure with the capacity to surpass President Erdoğan in the polls. The existing bureaucratic and capital structure of the state clearly shies away from entering an election contest with such a CHP leadership and demands a much more moderate, controllable opposition in its place. Since the complete closure of the party would mean the regime turning into an open dictatorship and would create enormous domestic and international crises that cannot be risked, the government is pursuing a strategy of paralysing the party through the judiciary.

The government’s search for 3 percent

Another reason is the ruling power’s obsession with electoral engineering. Sooner or later, but at some point, ballot boxes will be placed before the people again. All polls show an intense race between the AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – Justice and Development Party) and the CHP, with the CHP leading in many of them, sometimes by a clear margin. Apart from the image of a stable leader promoted through foreign policy, Erdoğan has no advantages left. On the contrary, the government’s economic policies are considered a failure by the overwhelming majority of the people. Erdoğan is trying to turn this into a success story by emphasising chaos in West Asia and the war against Iran, but there are very strong doubts that he can comfortably win an election. This is the fundamental reason for the government’s all-encompassing fears and the stormy mood lying behind its calm appearance.

This attack is an attack carried out for that 3 percent. An attempt is being made to guarantee that the CHP suffers a 3 percent loss of votes throughout this discussion process. Some party members are organising a police attack against other party members and, taking shelter behind this attack, are entering the party building.

This creates confusion in the minds of a section of the voters and the masses moving decisively towards election day. The government considers this confusion in that section to be sufficient.

The possibility that Özel and his team, instead of exhausting their energy in internal debate, might quickly establish a new party also appears to the government as a major opportunity. They foresee that a party split in two from every angle will mean neither wing can reach the previous totals.

One of the reasons for this electoral engineering and the fear felt is, of course, the existence of a major “reckoning” possibility. Just as in Hungary where Orbán’s corruption was investigated or in Brazil where Bolsonaro was forced to flee the country, in Turkey too the new state ideology, capital groups and security bureaucracy that have grown since 2013-2014 could pay a heavy price in the event of a change of power. Therefore, by legitimising every kind of lawlessness, they are carrying out propaganda that the only structure capable of protecting the survival of the state is their own power.

Bahçeli and “absolute nullity”

Bahçeli’s initially moderate approach to the court’s “absolute nullity” decision and his statement that the dissolution of the CHP would not be right should not be interpreted as a split within the ruling bloc. On the contrary, as his subsequent statements also show (he said that Kılıçdaroğlu is still the CHP General Chairman) and by persistently stirring up allegations of bribery and chaos within the CHP for the last four months, he........

© marksist.org