'Mr. Kemal's counter-attack

Photo: AA

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan isn't used to giving nicknames to his political rivals, but he rarely refers to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the main opposition CHP, with his full name. Rather, he usually calls him Bay Kemal, Turkish for Mr. Kemal.

It doesn't sound to be a derogatory nickname, but it explains, in a nutshell, Erdoğan's two-decade rhetoric that he has successfully deployed to portray himself as the savior of the pious who had been oppressed by the secular elites for decades. Bay, and, for women, bayan, were coined in the early years of the republic as the equivalents of monsieur and madame in French, as part of the westernization efforts in that period.

The words didn't quite catch on and are not used as formal titles today; neither are they used in everyday language. But when used as a title for the leader of the founding party of the republic, bay just serves its purpose to invoke the said conservative narrative.

However, like some of Erdoğan's other old tricks, it doesn't seem to work anymore, as shown by Kılıçdaroğlu's counter-move to reclaim the nickname at a rally in Balıkesir, northwestern Turkey, on July 24.

"I gave my whole life to become Mr. Kemal," he said, addressing thousands of people at "The Voice of the Nation" rally. In order to become Mr. Kemal, Kılıçdaroğlu said, one should be "moral, fair and just" and they should not "bow to imperial powers."

"In order to become Mr. Kemal, you shouldn't go to the gulf countries to beg for money, you should protect the reputation of this country. In order to become Mr. Kemal, you should put the İstanbul Convention into effect within a week. Who are you to be Mr. Kemal?"

"I will change this order. Whatever will they do, Mr. Kemal will change this order," he remarked.

It was a strategic move by Kılıçdaroğlu, according to Seren Selvin Korkmaz, a political analyst who heads the İstanbul-based think tank IstanPol Institute.

"'Mr. Kemal' was an important discursive tool that Erdoğan used. In a sense, it was an attempt to discredit Kılıçdaroğlu," she told bianet in an interview published on Wednesday. "Kılıçdaroğlu described 'Mr. Kemal' with his strongest points. I can say that he has taken away a very important discursive tool from Erdoğan."

"He drew a profile of Mr. Kemal, who is honest, works for his people and fights against injustice in Turkey."

What enabled Kılıçdaroğlu to make such a move was a shift in the balance of power in the country's politics, according to Onur Alp Yılmaz, an academic and a columnist for the Independent Turkish.

"While Erdoğan, who was the winner in those days ... was able to produce derogatory concept sets and determine their content as he wished, when the public turned to the opposition, the opposition was able to get the opportunity to counterattack through the same concept sets," he wrote.

Yet, the president seemed unfazed by Kılıçdaroğlu's move. Responding to him at a rally on Saturday in Ordu, he said, while smiling, "You know, I sometimes tease that person by calling him 'Mr. Kemal.' At last, he accepted this. He embraced 'Mr. Kemal' so much that he began to use it instead of his name.

"However, we had given this title to him because he had not produced any policies in the benefit of the country and occupied the main opposition seat for years with lies and slander.

"He should also add the title of the CHP General Director. In fact, it would be better if he prepares the title of 'Retired CHP General Director' to use after the elections."

There has been a slight increase in the popular support of Erdoğan's AKP in the last two months, according to polls, but the general picture has not changed, with neither the ruling People's Alliance nor the opposition's Nation's Alliance seem to have more than 50 percent of the votes to secure parliamentary majority and win the presidential election.

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