The Republican People’s Party (CHP) chair Ozgur Ozel on April 6 claimed a re-election victory at an extraordinary congress that voted on who should be party leader. He was the only candidate that ran for the seat.

The event was another chapter in the CHP comedy. Addressing those who criticise Turkey’s main opposition party, the CHP establishment always puts forward the argument that there is a dictatorship in the country, and that opposing the opposition should be avoided.

A simple question that won't go away does, however, linger: Why did the CHP hold this congress?

No threat to the regime

For more than two decades, the CHP has been enjoying the main opposition role. And the top figures of the party have avoided jail because in the final analysis they have posed no threat to the regime.

Whenever someone does pose a genuine threat to the regime, as Istanbul mayor and CHP exception Ekrem Imamoglu does, they end up in jail.

Trolls in Turkey

In Turkey, the intelligence service, MIT, runs trolls that serve as hitmen in the media during the regime’s important operations.

When the word "troll" is used, people generally think about Russian hackers working behind nicknames. But this is not the case in Turkey.

Trolls in Turkey are absolutely flesh and blood. They are ministers, MPs, mayors, public servants, media workers, TV commentators, businessmen and so on.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, himself is quite an effective troll himself. You must have heard how he regularly declares showdowns, even impending wars, against Israel, the US, Greece or some of his other allies.

Gulenist trolls became Erdoganists

The MIT’s media trolls are actually Gulenists. They first emerged during the Ergenekon operation conducted by the Erdogan regime against the military tutelage regime.

After relations between Erdogan and Fethullah Gulen, the late head of the Gulenists, broke down, then MIT secretary Hakan Fidan acquitted the Gulenist media trolls and put them to use during the operation to crack down on the Gulenists.

Given the conditions in the country when it comes to the principle of merit, this is not clandestine or hidden information. The trolls in question openly tell how they served during both the Ergenekon operation as part of the Gulenist team and later on in the operation against Gulenists.

Fidan, himself, is the most transparent spymaster in history. Tapes of all of his key meetings are available on the internet.

Toying with the CHP

One of the trolls wrote on X a few days after Imamoglu was detained on March 19 that he received a summons from Ankara and that he was heading there.

He returned with some analysis suggesting that Erdogan would appoint a CHP member as a trustee at the CHP. Mustafa Sarigul, Gursel Tekin and Berhan Simsek were among the candidates.

Following the appointment of the trustee, a congress would be called and ex-party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s team would take back the party management. Kilicdaroglu would not be the chairman, but Oguz Kaan Salici from his team would take the seat.

Similar to the Cumhuriyet operation

The regime previously conducted a similar operation against the daily Cumhuriyet. It jailed the editorial and managerial team and installed some puppets in their stead.

The voters of CHP still think of Cumhuriyet as the daily of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the 1920s founder of the Republic of Turkey and the CHP. They also think that the CHP remains the party of Ataturk. Unfortunately, the genuine Ataturk party was shut down by the 1980 military coup regime together with all the political parties in the country.

Deniz Baykal launched the present-day CHP in 1992 after he could not win the party chair seat at the then Socialist Democratic Populist Party (SHP).

Herding the CHP

The troll who was summoned, and his wife, who is also a TV personality, are in a close relationship with Ali Mahir Basarir, current head of the CHP’s parliamentary group. This ntroll also wrote on X that he had talked to his friends at the CHP about the upcoming trustee appointment.

On the very next day, Ozel held a press conference to announce that an extraordinary congress would be held since the CHP had received intel that Erdogan was set to seize the party.

Nullified, but how?

During a press conference, Ozel said that the calling of the congress nullified Erdogan’s move.

A journalist brought up how the regime was actually targeting the legitimacy of the CHP’s previous congress over claims from Kilicdaroglu that Imamoglu had bribed party members in the Istanbul pre-elections to obtain votes from congress delegates.

She asked whether Ozel was planning to renew the local Istanbul polls for electing congress delegates.

Ozel said that, according to the political parties law (which is an infamous law introduced by the 1980 coup regime to install little dictators at political parties to avoid the necessity of dealing with crowds of politicians), the pre-elections for delegates could not be renewed when an extraordinary congress has been called.

So, the question then was whether his call for a congress had nullified the trustee attempt or whether Erdogan still just needed some sound reason to appoint a trustee. But, Ozel ended the Q&A session and left.

Ozel, despite his regular venomous words against the Erdogan jailing of Imamoglu, has actually acted in a way that has served perfectly in drawing the sting of the angry anti-government crowds. He has received his warning. It is unnecessary to seize the CHP.

Berhan Simsek

On April 6, Berhan Simsek filed an application to run for the partly leadership against Ozel at the congress. However, the party management rejected his application and Ozel ran as the sole candidate.

Tweet: Berhan Simsek (@Berhansimsek) cried foul.

With his move, Simsek played a role that provided more evidence for those who contend that the CHP’s extraordinary congress was not legitimate.

So, that question again, can someone please explain why the CHP held this congress?