The leftist columnists of the media, too, are suffering from the same indecision. The media organizations and leftist columnists that exhaustively discussed the Susurluk incident are now acting according to a double standard. This group has remained silent so far in connection with the Ergenekon case due to the “Atatürkist” identities of those detained.

The neonational and Atatürkist nature of the Ergenekon organization, which according to the indictment is involved in many filthy and bloody affairs in this country, has brought many people, in particular the CHP, to a moment of difficult decision.

The leader of the CHP volunteered to be a lawyer for Ergenekon and has called on its traditional allies to do something about it. But his call has gone unanswered.

Many Atatürkist institutions and people, including the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), have preferred to remain “neutral” on the Ergenekon issue. Moreover, there is a widespread conviction that the Ergenekon investigation would not have reached its current stage without the TSK’s approval.

At this point, the CHP sees that it is parting ways with many of its traditional allies. Having opted in the past for controlling political power via reliance on bureaucratic elites, the CHP has finally understood that the era of its reliance on the TSK, the top judiciary and universities for exerting opposition functions has ended. This actually implies the end of CHP leader Deniz Baykal and his squad. If an alternative leftist movement emerged, this would mean the end of the CHP’s leadership in the left wing of politics.

Based on his political analysis, my leftist friend indicated that this explains the CHP’s recent change of heart. In order to change the course of events, the CHP is trying to improve its opposition capabilities in concrete areas, in addition to its traditional reliance on republican values. In this respect, the CHP did not refrain from bringing the armored vehicle procured for the chief of general staff to the agenda. By doing so, it was trying to get rid of its image as a state party.

In August, when the parliamentary intermission started, Baykal hid himself from the public eye in order to bring Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to the foreground, the deputy chairman of the party’s parliamentary group, who would voice this harsh and unwavering opposition style. Kılıçdaroğlu made his first shot by criticizing the fact that no one was discharged from the military in the meeting of the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ), and went further by implying that this was because of a bargain struck between the government and the TSK over the armored vehicle provided to former Chief of General Staff Yaşar Büyükanıt. The CHP had also made harsh criticisms about the termination of the military operation into northern Iraq. Strongly worded statements came from the TSK and then from the CHP, which gave support to the claim that the CHP is trying to distance itself from the TSK.

By remaining silent, CHP leader Baykal implied that Kılıçdaroğlu was speaking with his consent. After some time Onur Öymen made a statement, stressing that the CHP would not distance itself from the military. At this point, the CHP’s indecision emerged. According to a senior Justice and Development Party (AK Party) executive, the CHP would not quit its established habits of opposition but would continue to rely on republican values for its style of opposition.

Disappointment at Beijing Olympics

Sunday’s Zaman has discussed the poor performance of Turkish athletes at the Olympic Games in Beijing, which stirred much interest among our readers. Dana Ottman, a cyclist who competed in many contests in Turkey and Europe, sent an e-mail, in which she interpreted Turkey’s performance in China.

She pointed to Turkey’s potential to raise many athletes in all fields of sports and gave some advice for achievement:

1 Generally, there are not many Turkish sport science books on the market. But the number of sports science books published during the last years has increased. Theoretical knowledge exists, but unfortunately the connection between the theory and the practice seems not to work properly.

2 The Turkish education system should support and integrate sports better. Unfortunately, most of the public schools do not have the necessary sports fields for training athletics. The infrastructure has to be improved to find talented children and to give them the opportunity to do sports. In Germany, for example, every school has its own sport fields for athletics.

3 Most Turkish athletes stop doing sports when they are adults because they have to earn money. If you want to become an international champion, the training takes several hours a day; a “normal” fulltime job is impossible.

4 During the last two years the Turkish Cycling Federation has sent athletes of all ages to Europe to take part in big international races. The athletes did not achieve the very first places, but they got experience, and an improvement from race to race can be seen. It is also highly motivating for them to race in countries other than Turkey. For Turkish sports, it is important to work more together with other international federations and to take part in competitions all over the world.

Dişli and Sözen may resign to save their party

AK Party Deputy Chairman Şaban Dişli and Deputy Chairwoman Edibe Sözen are at a crossroads in their political careers. These two politicians, who are relatively new to politics, are having a hard time explaining themselves. Both politicians may resign from office at the beginning of the new legislative term, it has been said. This resignation will come in order to ease the pressure on their party. Dişli refuses to accept the claims about his involvement in a $1 million corruption case, but fails to make a satisfactory explanation. He held a press conference accompanied by AK Party parliamentary group deputy chairman Bekir Bozdağ that at first glance gave the impression that his party was supporting him. However, during the conference, Bozdağ did not say a word about the issue, and this shows that the AK Party management, too, is not quite satisfied with Dişli’s explanation. A senior AK Party executive stressed the weakness of Dişli’s defense, saying: “Our options are limited. We see that the accusations are unfair, but we cannot do anything about it, as his defense is weak.”

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