Sarigul and CHP

BY CUNEYT ULSEVER
HURRIYET- Answering a reporter’s question just before the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) congress yesterday, Sisli Mayor Mustafa Sarigul said, ‘I would never participate in a competition which I cannot win.’ I wonder how he feels now. I also wonder if he realized that he had lost the general leadership competition. However, everybody knows that the CHP lost, thus, Turkey lost, too. Now nobody can take CHP seriously, except those who supported it and its leader. From now on, whatever CHP leader Deniz Baykal and his staff do, nobody would support this party as long as they keep the leadership. Turkey has no left and opposition now. I saw many disputed congresses. However, this is the first congress in which a candidate struck another mayor with his fist. Baykal preferred to make Sarigul nervous and he succeeded in it. When Sarigul lost his temper, he was wounded not only by CHP delegates, but also by the nation who followed the congress on nine different television channels.
However, Baykal lost, too. He annoyed Sarigul clearly but didn’t allow him to speak and he was unable to produce a message other than his hate for Sarigul. He also seemed to have no project for Turkey and ended his own political career himself yesterday. Most importantly, the oldest party in Turkey was damaged this much, which is a loss for Turkey. The control and balance are indispensable tasks both for the party in power and the opposition party and the right and left. A rightist party in power might be saved from a leftist opposition and this might make the party in power insensitive. Yesterday not only CHP, but also the entire Turkey was wounded.