The X account (@chpgenclikgm) of the youth branches of Turkey’s main “opposition” Republican People’s Party (CHP) on July 18 congratulated Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu on his victory in elections held for the chairmanship of the country’s football federation, TFF.

According to the CHP youth, Haciosmanoglu defeated the candidate backed by Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The youth branches also sent congratulations to the “honourable” delegates who voted in the elections for not bowing to pressure and threats from Erdogan. What’s more, they came up with a meme in which Erdogan holds strings attached to Mehmet Buyukeksi, and wrote: “His puppet has lost. Now, it’s his turn”.

Haciosmanoglu, meanwhile, thanked Erdogan after he declared his election success, saying in a victory speech: “I want to firstly thank our dear president. I bear the honour of being a friend of our dear president.”

The “misunderstanding” that tripped up the CHP’s youth representatives stems from the belief that Ali Koc, the chair of Fenerbahce football club (FENER) and a member of the Koc family (owners of Turkey’s largest conglomerate Koc Holding (KCHOL)), is an opponent of Erdogan.

In April, bne IntelliNews explained what causes this common misunderstanding among the minority who still insist on believing in what they are spoonfed by the media.

During Ali Koc’s reign at the helm, Fenerbahce fans have endured the relentless victories of their rivals for years. Taking a stance designed to ensure the noisy complaints of the fans are not heard so much, Ali Koc himself makes an awful lot of noise as he circulates the idea that he is not allowed to win the Turkish league championship due to his political position.

The Koc family is among the main sponsors of the Turkish media and political parties, along with everything else in the country. So, everyone in the mainstream (in terms of politics, media, sport and whatever else) is supposed to take what Ali Koc says seriously.

So if Ali Koc circulates that he has a republican stance and Buyukeksi is in his way because he is Erdogan’s man, and if Ali Koc is seen supporting Haciosmanoglu, the logical, but in fact erroneous conclusion, is that Haciosmanoglu is an opponent to Erdogan.

One could argue that the main “opposition” youth are still young and can make some mistakes. Avoiding the fact that they are actually in their thirties, let’s take a look at what their big brothers are up to.

On July 11, the headquarters of the CHP called a “protest” to press for salary hikes for minimum wage earners and retirees.

As part of the so-called protest, the CHP urged Turks to switch off and switch on their lights at 21:00. But the contention that such protests against the Erdogan regime could make a real impact is rather dubious.

Turks in fact employed such protest actions against the gangs that took control of the Turkish state during the 1990s. They did not produce any results. Even today, the state remains under the control of the same gangs.

The observer can at least confidently state that back then the Turks did at least collectively register their unhappiness at the situation of the Turkish state. However, when it came to the CHP protest, it faced a simple problem. At 21:00, it is not yet dark in the Western parts of the country. That being the case, even the CHP’s provincial headquarters in Istanbul did not participate in the light switching episode.

Since 2002, yes for as long as 22 years, the CHP has been circulating the claim that the Erdogan regime is as good as finished, with victory in an upcoming snap poll clearly within the party’s grasp.

The cheese hangs before the rat on the wheel. Hope dangles before the eyes, the legs keep scampering. In the political order that prevails in Turkey, this image nicely encapsulates the CHP’s role. It serves to create confusion as to whether the regime is a dictatorship or not.

The Turks are not “stupid” or “young”. Yet, they argue that they need some hope to survive.

The appalling situation in the country stares one in the face. But some hope is necessary for a person to keep functioning normally in life under such conditions. So the abundant optimism found in Turkey after the CHP’s “victory’ at the local polls held on March 31 comes as little surprise.

The opponents find their optimism in the suggestion that the regime could be washed away in the next elections, while the Erdoganists remain optimistic because the “chief” is still able to keep surviving in the current mess thanks to his “god-given” opponents.