The serious events that took place yesterday after riot police cleared the headquarters of Turkey’s main opposition party — the Republican People’s Party (CHP) — following Özgür Özel’s refusal to comply with the court ruling reinstating Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as the party’s secretary-general, have exacerbated the internal crisis within a party that had already emerged deeply divided from the 2023 congress that elected Özel, and have prompted many to ask an uncomfortable question that increasingly demands an answer: Is the historic party founded by Atatürk heading toward a split?
In remarks to journalists reported by Turkish newspapers such as Cumhuriyet, CHP MP for Izmir Rıfat Turuntay Nalbantoğlu – who has met with Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu at his residence four days after the latter was appointed party chairman on May 21 following the “absolute nullity” ruling issued by the Turkish courts – addressed precisely the question of whether there is a risk of a party split.
Nalbantoğlu explained to the press this morning that he had had the opportunity to analyze with Kılıçdaroğlu the events that unfolded within the party during yesterday’s sad day and to share with him his views on how to maintain the cohesion and unity of the organization in the face of the serious internal crisis the CHP is undergoing.
“We support our chairman Kılıçdaroğlu to the end”
“We support our chairman (Kılıçdaroğlu) to the end,” Nalbantoğlu stated. “The Republican People’s Party is essential for this country. To meet that need, as our chairman has pointed out, he has taken on a very difficult task: to return the party to its true founding principles. We will do everything we can to stand by him, support him, and help him as long as he asks us to,” he assured.
When asked about Kılıçdaroğlu’s assessment of the scenes that unfolded yesterday during the police raid on the party headquarters, Nalbantoğlu replied: “Like everyone else, our president, Mr. Kemal, was also disturbed by this situation. There is no one who wasn’t upset by it. Now, how did all this happen? How did this process reach this point? What happened? That is a completely different matter,” noted the MP, who confirmed that Kılıçdaroğlu plans to visit the CHP headquarters in Ankara on May 28.
When asked by journalists whether the support shown by numerous party deputies and mayors for Özgür Özel — temporarily removed from the party presidency following the controversial court ruling — could lead to an internal split within the CHP, and if he was concerned about that possibility, Nalbantoğlu replied: “Let’s hope not. Hopefully, together we will manage to preserve our unity and integrity.”
Several mayors from the CHP have joined in recent hours the critical voices within the party founded by Atatürk himself in 1923 who reject the court ruling, and have announced that they do not recognize Kılıçdaroğlu as president of the main opposition party and that they have “frozen all relations” with “the administrator appointed by the palace” — in reference to Erdoğan — and with his new team, which portends a very difficult period for the party until a new congress is held: something that Kılıçdaroğlu, for the moment, seems unwilling to convene.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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