
Hayko Bagdat
The Turkish opposition’s Mr. Wobbly Man
Our readers referred to nowadays as those “under the age of 40” may not remember, but Mr. Wobbly Man was one of the most magical toys of our childhood. The Turkish Language Society (TLS) describes Mr. Wobbly Man as “a toy that stands upright no matter how it is placed on the ground, due to the weight at its bottom.”
“The weight of Mr. Wobbly Man’s lower portions is close to 80% of its total weight. When Mr. Wobbly Man is tilted on its side, it is comparable to two sides of a scale in which 80 units weigh on one side while 20 weigh on the other. In this case, the bottom part of Mr. Wobbly Man outweighs the lighter part, and so the head of the doll moves upwards. This causes the illusion that the doll never falls.”
When the term “Mr. Wobbly Man” is used metaphorically, the TLS says that it denotes “a person who is able to recover quickly in difficult situations by sacrificing their personality for their own benefit.”
The Table of Six’s Consensus Paper, which is over 240 pages in length, has finally been released. The publication is not a philosophical one. It is a program of action. It is a roadmap for the re-establishment of a state that has hit rock bottom and collapsed with all of its institutional structures in tow. A serious criticism has not yet been made of the general framework of the suggestions in the paper. They prepared for this with great effort and want to prove that they are ready to take over the government.
What is being criticized are those things that were not written in the paper.
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) is at the center of the Nation Alliance and its banner says “Social Democrat.” Thus, segments of society most persecuted by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) regime have great expectations of the CHP.
However, Mr. Wobbly Man is going to have to lean towards the Felicity Party. The subject of the "Istanbul Convention" in the text is stumped, I presume, when Mr. Wobbly Man leans towards this tradition that has pulled the AKP, DEVA, and Future Party out of itself to say, "this is not real political Islam, but ours is.”
We do not know whether the CHP turned to them and said, yet was eventually overpowered: “The Istanbul Convention is the most advanced and necessary legal arrangement to stop the attacks on women in our country and in the world. Your sensitivities are not worth more than a woman's life. Let's write in capital letters in the Consensus Paper that we will return to the Istanbul Convention immediately.” But when Mr. Wobbly Man takes an upright position, he shames women.
Mr. Wobbly Man is going to have to lean towards the Good Party; we know this. Because they are the other half of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), they probably act cautious when talking about Kurds, peace, local administration, rights to the mother tongue, etc. in the vicinity of those of the Felicity Party.
We do not know whether the CHP turned to them and said, yet was eventually overpowered: “The Kurdish problem exists. For 40 years, tens of thousands of our people have died, we have hit rock bottom because of the budget allocated to war. With their language, history, and geography, the Kurds are a people and they have rights. When we have control of the government, we will immediately reinstate the peace process. The guns will fall silent. We will be braver than the AKP. We will solve this problem together with the elected people in the Parliament.” But when Mr. Wobbly Man takes an upright position, he shames the Kurds.
Mr. Wobbly Man is going to have to lean towards the Future Party; we know this. Sitting at a table with Ahmet Davutoglu, we do not know whether they were able to say, “We made a promise in the public squares. We will face the massacres that the state inflicted on its citizens. We will start with the very latest. 33 of our youth were killed in Suruc. The Ankara Train Station attack was the biggest terrorist act in this region. People were ripped to pieces in Roboski. We will hold all the officials of that period accountable.”
But when Mr. Wobbly Man takes an upright position, he shames the families who have lost their children.
He shames the Alevis, the cemevi, the seized Armenian foundation wealth, the LGBTQ+…
It’s possible to multiply the examples but let us not.
We understand now, we have no other choice, everyone must come together to end the Erdogan regime. In fact, had these six parties not come together, we would have been infuriated, sure.
But we are already experiencing the height of “Turkish nationalist” and “Islamist” politics.
Could you not try to lean towards universal “Social Democrat” sensibilities for once?
Would it be horrible for Mr. Wobbly Man to lean towards the sensitives of those who have been injured and hurt?
What is it that’s stopping you, is Davutoglu going to be angry or something?
*Hayko Bagdat was born in Istanbul in 1976, as the fourth child of an ethnic Greek mother and an Armenian father. After attending the Armenian schools Esayan and Mkhitaryan, he began studying history at Istanbul University in 1994. Due to the unexpected death of his father, he was unable to complete his studies. He began his journalism career in 2002 with a program on a radio station covering minority issues for the first time in Turkey, and worked as a journalist, columnist and commentator for Turkey's mainstream media. In 2007, Bagdat was among the founders of the "Friends of Hrant" group, which was formed after the murder of journalist Hrant Dink and that continues its search for justice. Bagdat's first book on being an Armenian and 'the other' in Turkey, Salyangoz (Snail) was published in 2014, his second book, Gollik, in 2015, and his third book, Kurtulus Cok Bozuldu, in 2016. His one-man stage performance "Salyangoz," based on his book, thrilled audiences in many cities in Turkey in 2016 and was subsequently acclaimed with tours all over the world. In 2017, Bagdat moved to Germany and continues to work as a journalist and producer in Berlin.