The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) chairperson, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, rejected President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call on all political parties to draft a new constitution – as expected. Besides questioning the current administration’s legitimacy, on which he blames his latest election defeat, the CHP chairperson urged his former allies not to negotiate with the ruling People’s Alliance: “The six opposition leaders shared their views on the constitution with the public already. We have signed that document and unveiled it. As journalists, you are welcome to ask the other leaders why they choose to invalidate their signatures.” Currently dealing with the intra-party opposition, Kılıçdaroğlu’s message could hardly guide the opposition’s initiatives and discourse. It is impossible to address the Good Party (IP) chairperson Meral Akşener’s criticism of electoral alliances and the pursuit of a third way between the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and CHP with reminders of what happened before the May 2023 elections. Indeed, the CHP congress in November won’t end the crisis within that movement because its ideological troubles and weak political stance will persist even if Kılıçdaroğlu were to get re-elected. CHP’s Özgür Özel, one of Kılıçdaroğlu’s challengers, insists that his opponent single-handedly made campaign pledges and negotiated terms with right-wing parties. He also promises to “fix” the problem of CHP’s drift away from the Left. Last but not least, Özel underlines that the main opposition’s attempt to “make amends” must address the “trauma experienced by Kurds and Alevis.”

Özel’s efforts won’t end the internal crisis

It is important to note that Özel’s effort to make more room for leftist/social democratic ideology won’t end the CHP’s crisis. If anything, it promises to make it worse. That’s because Kılıçdaroğlu’s pragmatic commitment to making amends and ideological ambiguity had made possible the “table for six.” It was also inevitable to delay the selection of the joint presidential candidate until the eleventh hour. That is exactly how Kılıçdaroğlu managed to compel fellow opposition leaders to endorse him. It is no secret that some right-wing parties supported the CHP chairperson’s presidential bid as they formed the opposition alliance. Most recently, the Democratic Party (DP) chairperson Gültekin Uysal rejected Akşener’s claim that the opposition bloc waited until its final meeting to pick its joint presidential candidate. In a seeming attempt to repair the Nation Alliance’s foundation, which Akşener undermined, Uysal insisted it would be wrong to reflect on what happened under the influence of “temporary anger.” He added that failing to create a “healthy balance of power” between CHP and the IP early on amounted to a “strategic error.” The DP chairperson thus argued that the opposition bloc could have avoided many unnecessary arguments by reaching the March 6 agreements at the beginning.

Criticism accepted

Whether it’s Akşener, Özel, or Uysal, opposition figures reflecting on the May 2023 elections have something in common. They gradually accept the People’s Alliance’s criticism of the “table for six” – including its lack of focus, its decision to postpone the agreement until the last possible moment, its lack of commitment to “making amends,” its secret negotiations and its inability to govern because of the multitude of stakeholders. Gültekin Uysal does the same thing by saying that the opposition should have endorsed a presidential candidate and a single vice presidential candidate because voters were alarmed by the number of stakeholders. It remains a subject of debate whether engaging in self-criticism and analysis based on the ruling alliance’s views amounts to a weakness for the opposition. Everything that the above opposition figures admit, however, blames their latest defeat on Kılıçdaroğlu alone. Whether the five opposition parties (six, if you include the Green Left Party) bear any responsibility remains unknown. And how could the opposition move forward with Kılıçdaroğlu, who forced the opposition bloc to endorse himself and lost the election? It is virtually impossible for the CHP chair, who remains under immense pressure, to make a realistic assessment of the May 2023 elections. What remains in his arsenal does not bother the ruling alliance at all: Kılıçdaroğlu could still criticize President Erdoğan. For example, he gets to reject the idea of a new constitution. Isn’t that a vicious cycle between the ruling alliance and the opposition though? [Daily Sabah, October 2, 2023]