It is natural for everyone who sits in the number-one seat to have strengths and weaknesses. This is natural because\u2014even if they make extra efforts to hide most of them\u2014being human ontologically brings such traits along. If we borrow from anatomy, there are strong muscles and weak muscles. Just as these muscles differ from one person to another, they also differ from one \u201cnumber-one\u201d to the next.<\/p>\n
In politics\u2014especially in Turkish politics\u2014the foremost muscle that comes to the fore is the \u201cdirayet\u201d (fortitude) muscle. Persistence in what one believes to be right, the resolve to fight for a goal, and the ability to appear like a sturdy branch on which those who turn to you in hard times can firmly grasp\u2026 Turkish politics is well acquainted with leaders whose fortitude muscle is strong. Movements with ideological foundations generally arise under the guidance of leaders endowed with fortitude. Over time, this fortitude is adorned by the supporting masses with quasi-spiritual, superhuman attributions such as \u201cbeing chosen.\u201d For a country like ours that, after long monarchical millennia, became a republic through the great efforts of its founders, this should hardly be surprising. For centuries, one of the official titles of our monarchs was \u201cthe shadow of God on earth.\u201d The fortitude muscle should not be confused with the \u201c\u015feyh\u201d (sheikh) muscle that I will touch on shortly. Fortitude resembles, in a sense, the concept of kut<\/em> among the ancient Turks. When everything runs smoothly, it is accepted that God\u2019s kut<\/em>\u2014the fortune or destiny necessary to govern\u2014resides with the ruler. When things go awry, it is believed that God withdraws the kut<\/em> from that person. In such circumstances, the ruler loses legitimacy. From this perspective, the fortitude muscle also carries a distinctly pragmatic dimension.<\/p>\n One of the muscles unique to Turkish politics is the \u201c\u015feyh\u201d muscle. The word \u015feyh<\/em> here carries the sense found in the saying, \u201cA sheikh does not fly\u2014his disciples make him fly.\u201d A recent anecdote told on a TV program by former Directorate of Religious Affairs president Mehmet G\u00f6rmez offers a vivid example of this muscle at work. Professor G\u00f6rmez recalled summoning the leader of a well-known Sufi order and reminding him that, in the cleric\u2019s presence, someone had once declared: \u201cOur master possesses the power of two prophets\u2014namely, the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus.\u201d G\u00f6rmez then asked, \u201cSo, do you truly possess the power of two prophets?\u201d The sheikh replied, \u201cGod forbid!\u201d G\u00f6rmez pressed further: \u201cThen why did you not protest when such words were uttered beside you?\u201d The leader answered, \u201cHodja, I\u2019m just an engineer. The scholars there spoke like that; I couldn\u2019t say anything.\u201d Anyone who thinks this is merely an \u201coutlandish\u201d episode confined to religious circles would be mistaken. Replace the \u201cprophets\u201d in this story with the most famous rulers, sultans, or heroes in Turkish history, and swap the \u201cengineer-sheikh\u201d for politicians shrouded in \u201cmystery,\u201d presumed to \u201cknow something we don\u2019t,\u201d or rumored to consult with \u201cwise elders.\u201d Look closely at the sculpted muscles that come to mind in those statues, standing motionless like Michelangelo\u2019s David: those are the \u201c\u015feyh\u201d muscles. In truth, they do not exist\u2014yet because their existence is believed, they exist even in their absence. Unlike the fortitude muscle, they do not depend on their owner\u2019s effort or will. They are absent, yet ever-present, and their presence grants the bearer limitless irresponsibility. Accountability is unnecessary; today\u2019s 2 + 2 = 4 can effortlessly become tomorrow\u2019s 2 + 2 = 7. Under the original umbrella of \u201che must know something,\u201d more palatable justifications are swiftly added as needed.<\/p>\n The muscle that is \u201cgiven\u201d<\/em> to every party leader in Turkey simply by virtue of holding the title\u2014yet whose ready-made nature never lessens its power or relevance\u2014is the \u201ckanun\u201d (law) muscle<\/span><\/strong>.<\/b> At its core lies the Political Parties Law, which grants chairs near-divine authority, erases the influence of the party\u2019s outer rings, and turns the center into an all-controlling leviathan. Around it grows a lattice of supporting bylaws, unwritten conventions, and similar devices that function like a magic wand, neutralizing rank-and-file members\u2019 free will. In this sense, the kanun muscle can be viewed as a gift bestowed on party chairs\u2014whose organizations also receive Treasury funds as pocket money\u2014so they may comfortably govern their own little \u201cmini-states.\u201d I have no principled objection to this thesis. To possess the kanun muscle, actively seek the leadership, and still fail to retain it would take nothing short of a super-human tsunami of collective discontent\u2014precisely what happened at the CHP convention Mr. Kemal lost and Mr. \u00d6zel won. For the very essence of the kanun muscle is the absurdity of being able to choose the people who will choose you: the party chair wields effective power to hand-pick the delegates who will elect him.<\/p>\n Mr. \u00d6zel\u2019s situation, however, represents a new reality\u2014a new phenomenon\u2014for Turkey. The CHP chair is not operating with the muscles to which Turkish voters are accustomed: neither the familiar fortitude (dirayet<\/em>) muscle, nor the sheikh (\u015feyh<\/em>) muscle, nor a kanun muscle that subdues the delegate body. If he manages to sustain the success he achieved in his first elections as party leader, one might eventually speak of a fortitude muscle all his own\u2014but from what we have observed so far, that seems unlikely.<\/p>\n I had long wanted to name the \u201cmuscle\u201d that keeps Mr. \u00d6zel politically alive and powers his success. After the heartbreaking loss of Manisa\u2019s beloved mayor, the late Ferdi Zeyrek, the name of that muscle\u2014at least for me\u2014has finally become clear. The way Mr. \u00d6zel laid Mayor Ferdi to rest, and the address he delivered afterward\u2014reserved only for those who love deeply\u2014gave that muscle its label, however sorrowful yet natural it may be. Within Mr. \u00d6zg\u00fcr there is, at the level of a party leader, a \u201chumanity muscle\u201d that our political tradition has long deemed a weakness. Yet, quite interestingly, in him it appears not as a vulnerability but as a genuine source of strength.<\/p>\n It is still too early to say whether the blend of Mr. \u00d6zel\u2019s diligence with this genuine \u201chumanity muscle\u201d will, under the opposition\u2019s extremely tough circumstances, ultimately yield a success story. Even so, I believe he now fully deserves to be examined on his own, without any reference to other political actors\u2014whether from the opposition or the ruling bloc. From where I stand, he makes critical mistakes, much as Mr. Tayyip does. Yet, given the state machinery at his rival\u2019s disposal, Mr. \u00d6zel will have to make not merely fewer errors than Mr. Tayyip, but far fewer, if he is to prevail in the end. Regardless of the outcome, I am convinced it is good for Turkish politics that, at the highest level, we have encountered a new \u201cmuscle\u201d\u2014and one that its bearer does not hesitate to display.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had long wanted to name the \u201cmuscle\u201d that keeps Mr. \u00d6zel politically alive and powers his success. After the heartbreaking loss of Manisa\u2019s beloved mayor, the late Ferdi Zeyrek, the name of that muscle\u2014at least for me\u2014has finally become clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[175,238,239,192,201],"ppma_author":[19],"class_list":["post-1504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-chp","tag-ferdi-zeyrek","tag-manisa","tag-ozgur-ozel","tag-turkish-politics"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"authors":[{"term_id":19,"user_id":3,"is_guest":0,"slug":"huseyinrasityilmaz","display_name":"H\u00fcseyin Ra\u015fit Y\u0131lmaz","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Huseyin-Rasit-Yilmaz.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Huseyin-Rasit-Yilmaz.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toplum.org.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}