Although Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had good relations with the Social Democrats during his 26-year service in public office, he kept his distance from politics until the 1999 elections. DHA photo
For many years, the name Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was associated with high-quality public service and standing stiff amid the ruling government’s day-to-day swaying for public opinion.
The newly elected leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, has had a public service career life full of battles to be won and causes to be championed. Formerly the head of the Social Insurance Institution, or SSK, from which he retired from in 1999, Kılıçdaroğlu knows what it means to defend on all fronts.
As stressful as the constant conflict was, in typical fashion he went against the grain once again and quit smoking the day he lost his job after losing a case against a Cabinet minister. That was the toughest fight he faced, but despite many similar conflicts, Kılıçdaroğlu had remained in that controversial role longer than anyone before him.
The toughest fight came from the labor minister of the Welfare Party and True Path Party coalition government in the late 1990s. Minister Necati Çelik demanded that Kılıçdaroğlu be removed from office, but the president at the time, Süleyman Demirel, did not agree.
“The minister gathered a press conference and blamed me. May be it was a first in Turkey,” Kılıçdaroğlu said. But then, the second time his removal was demanded, it was approved and he was removed from office.
“On that day I quit smoking. I needed to be strong. I was going to apply to a court [to have my dismissal repealed]. After that day I never smoked again. That process contributed to my growth. I used to smoke a pack a day sometimes, sometimes only three or four cigarettes, though I never smoked at home. I won the case and was ordered back to my office. The prosecutors also decided that the allegations against me lacked legal grounds,” he said.
During the same period, Kılıçdaroğlu also sued an old, so-called fundamentalist newspaper called Akit that had been publishing negative stories about him. “With the damages from Akit, I bought [Mustafa Kemal] Atatürk badges and distributed them among my friends. Later, I could not obtain the rest of the damages because the newspaper was running away. Because of this, I imposed a cautionary judgment on Akit’s logo,” he said. In 1999, under no pressure, he decided by himself to retire. He intended to enter politics and have a more influential life.
Although he had good relations with the Social Democrats during his 26-year service in public office, he had always kept his distance from politics. He and his family did, however, join the mass protests to turn lights on and off after a car accident in 1996 allegedly revealed relations between the state and underground gangs.
Before the 1999 general election he had to make a decision. After he retired he applied to join the Democratic Left Party, or DSP, after meeting Hüsamettin Özkan, a prominent figure in the party. The media wrote his name among the rising stars of the DSP in the lead up to the election, however it was a surprise when the parliamentary nominee lists were disclosed and his name was not featured. He was later told by Özkan that Rahşan Ecevit, the wife of Bülent Ecevit, the head of the party, did not put his name on the list.
He now had plenty of time. He started to allocate more time to his family, going to the cinema, eating out and visiting art galleries with his son. One day, while he was sitting on the couch reading a book, he said he suddenly felt like he had come back to life.
Until that time he never needed a private car, but now he and his children decided to buy one, at which stage began his adventure in obtaining a driving license at the age of 52. While he could not pass the driving test alone, he finally got his driver’s license with the help of a friend, though he never drove in traffic. He had been practicing for a long time, when one day he turned on all the car’s lights accidentally and could not turn them back off. When a police officer pulled him over to give him a fine, he cancelled the ticket as soon as he recognized him, saying he would not fine a social democrat. During the same period, he also accepted an offer to lecture at Hacettepe University and taught in the field of social insurance. He also wrote a column in the daily Sabah. The beginning of his political life in the CHP was coming.
During the 1980 military coup
After the military coup on Sept. 12, 1980, the routine in his work life revolved around tax audits. He was frequently traveling to other cities to audit the finances of companies. One of the memories that influenced Kılıçdaroğlu greatly in his work was when he audited a filter factory in the southern province of İskenderun.
“There were serious allegations against the factory. We had a court order for a search. Four months later I wrote the greatest tax evasion report of the time. Years passed and I went to the same city as the general director of the SSK. I saw Admon Azrak, the owner of that factory among the people who came to welcome me. ‘Mr. Admon, were the numbers on the report I wrote less [than what you thought]? Are you here for that?’ I asked him. He said, ‘No. I am here because you were never unfair to me and you always stood up when I entered your room and invited me to sit.’ This was one of the incidents that had a great influence on me in my professional life,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.
What feudality caused in Dersim
Regarding the events that happened in the eastern province of Dersim, Kılıçdaroğlu knows about the events only from the stories told among his friends and relatives, while in his own home the events were never mentioned. In 1938, a military operation was held to squash a rebellion in the area of Dersim, now Tunceli, killing thousands of people.
“If I am not mistaken, my father’s aunt died, other than that no one else from my family died. I researched the issue. From high school I became curious about local history. I tried to gather documents from the History Foundation and talked to living people,” he said.
According to Kılıçdaroğlu, there were groups in Dersim who wanted the feudal system of rule to remain intact there. However the use of lethal force in the military operation there was seriously disproportionate. In that military operation, women, elderly and children were killed as well. It was very traumatic, but it is part of Dersim’s history,” he said.
