BY AVNI OZGUREL
RADIKAL- Last week I wrote about recent moves by main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal. In terms of the CHP's history since Ataturk, Baykal's moves were very important. Baykal closed the door on an elitist approach which has dominated the party since 1938, one which falsely paints the views of Ataturk's successor Ismet Inonu as Kemalism.
So the grumbling and objections from the CHP are to be expected, because the party got to its current sorry state without making any important changes to its outlook or image for 80 years. At this point, I should express my concerns and record. I remember how Baykal invited theologian Yasar Nuri Ozturk into the CHP and how he recently said, 'Both religion and the flag are ours.' But such things are mere slogans for the CHP which remained empty, no matter how sincere they were.
Let's digress a bit here. Inonu was worried that a fundamental change of rhetoric on religion would constitute a step back on secularism and a concession to reactionaries. So he never considered changing CHP policy, no matter what his personal views were. Late Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was the one who realized that the CHP was making a mistake in terms of issues of faith and that this condemned it to remain in opposition.
That's what Ecevit thought when he led the CHP. He also said that some measures which were understandable when the republic was founded - for example, the decision to close Islamic monasteries - might be reconsidered in today's world. I should add that Inonu wasn't opposed to this and even asked Ecevit to raise the issue after studying it. Similarly, it should be remembered that afterwards, Ecevit presented the coalition with the National Salvation Party (MSP) as a 'historic consensus.' End digression.
What concerns me now is that up to now whenever Baykal has taken two steps forward, he's been scared into immediately taking a step back. With these new moves, Baykal actually brought the CHP to a critical threshold. I don't know if the CHP will suffer resignations over this or how these moves will affect next year's local elections. But if Baykal made these moves just to seem noble without considering a possible negative backlash, he must have prepared the political end of the CHP. Fortunately, initial signs show that he won't retreat this time.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hasn't responded to the CHP's moves. It's incredible to think that Erdogan, who answers columnists in speeches when necessary, has stayed silent, because he's placed so much importance on the issue. I think Erdogan has taken a commonsense stance on this issue, because perhaps he thought approaching the issue in a way that would provoke the CHP's base would score him political points but damage the country in the long term. I hope this, and not preoccupation with economic issues, is the reason for his silence.