CHP Leader

Filed under: Europe, Turkey — Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief on April 22, 2008 @ 7:20 pm CEST

According to Turkish Daily News, Deniz Baykal will be reelected as leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, the CHP (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s party basically). This is bad news for the country’s Kemalists and secularists: Baykal isn’t exactly popular and he has proven to be a less than effective leader.

But, he has the delegates on his side. ‘Ons kent ons,’ we say in the Netherlands (’us knows us’).

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will hold its general assembly meeting this weekend. Deniz Baykal, the party’s current leader, is yet again most likely to be the uncontested winner in the leadership elections.

Baykal could hardly do more than he already has to strengthen his seat, as party regulations and delegates’ allegiances are more than enough to leave him feeling secure.

“A pretender to the chair needs the support of 20 percent of delegates to officially run for the post. This is equivalent to suffocating intra-party democracy in its cradle,” the CHP’s deputy from Konya, Atilla Kart, who is among Baykal’s few opponents, told the Turkish Daily News.

There are only two candidates, Haluk Koç and Umut Oran, with the slimmest hope of becoming official candidates and they need the support of 243 party delegates. The ordeal seems to be an impossible one, given Baykal’s purge tactics, which were well tested by authoritarian parties in the 1930s.

Baykal has led the party since 1992, except for a brief interlude from 1999-2001. “Since 1996, Baykal has cleansed the party of any possible strong opposition,” said Sedat Bozkurt, Ankara representative of FOX TV. “Candidates against Baykal are from merely third-class cadres, as Baykal systematically removed any potential leaders,” he said.

The election of delegates, who in turn will elect the party leader, at local party meetings, is a telling example of Baykal’s grip on the party.

This is a major problem for the CHP. Baykal is thinking about number one first and foremost, not about what’s best for his party, let alone about what’s best for his country. If he cared about the latter, he would democratize his party.

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1 JudasPriest

April 22, 2008 @ 11:01 pm CEST

I’ll put my signature under this article. Deniz Baykal and I were were living in the same neighborhood for 15 years. I and his son were friends. He is a very good guy; nobody questions that. However, time has come for him to leave the post to a younger and able Kemalist leader someone who would inspire men and women of country’s poor and middle-class citizens and could speak to the same level with people is what the country urgently needs from CHP. For this to happen, CHP’s current delegation system has to be re-structured and in-breeding in the party has to come to an end, otherwise, CHP is definitely going to come to an end with Mr. Baykal’s leadership very soon.

2 Michael van der Galien

April 23, 2008 @ 11:02 am CEST

I agree JP.

3 Nihat

April 23, 2008 @ 8:40 pm CEST

CHP with Baykal at the helm has long been a party content with being the main opposition party. It wouldn’t have gone anywhere. The question is why no other left or left-of-center secular party rose to fill the gap successfully.