Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was reinstated as leader of the Turkish opposition by court order, confirmed on Wednesday that the Republican People’s Party (CHP) will hold a new congress, but that this will only take place once the ruling by the Turkish courts annulling the congress of November 2023 has become final: a stance that deepens the dispute over leadership with his rival and, until recently, the party’s leader, Özgür Özel, for whom some voices within the CHP are calling for his expulsion from the party.
The leader of the Turkish nationalist party MHP, Devlet Bahçeli, a political ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, reiterated in an interview reported today by Turkish media that the CHP should hold a new congress on 9 September – coinciding with the party’s founding anniversary – following the ruling that annulled Özel’s election at the November 2023 congress, thus putting an end to the serious crisis within Turkey’s main opposition party. Bahçeli maintains that the CHP should embark on a process of renewal under Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu – whom he considers the party leader following the court ruling – and convene a congress after the summer to bring an end to internal disputes. However, sources close to Kılıçdaroğlu suggest that he does not plan to convene such a congress before 6 to 8 months.
During a meeting with journalists held today in Ankara to mark the start of the Feast of Sacrifice, Kılıçdaroğlu referred to Bahçeli’s proposal regarding the date of the congress, noting that internal rules clearly establish the procedure for electing CHP leaders. “The method for electing the party president is clear. Party presidents are elected by the congresses,” stated the reinstated CHP secretary-general, who confirmed that the MHP leader had telephoned him, as he does every year, to wish him a happy holiday, although “we only exchanged greetings; we did not discuss any other matters,” he noted in comments reported by the Turkish press.
When asked about the discussions regarding changes within the CHP and a possible meeting with the recently ousted general secretary Özgür Özel, Kılıçdaroğlu said that no meeting had yet taken place, although he assured that it remained a possibility: “Why shouldn’t we meet? We are not enemies. We are two people working in the same party. We meet and talk with all the members of our party. It is not right to allow divisions to reach a point of no return,” he stressed.
Kılıçdaroğlu: there will be a congress, but only once there is a final ruling
Regarding one of the most pressing issues of the moment, the timetable for an upcoming CHP congress, Kılıçdaroğlu stated that the congress will undoubtedly take place, but he reiterated the view that it must wait for the final decision on the appeal lodged with the Supreme Court against the ruling that reinstated him as the party’s general secretary and annulled Özel’s election at the 2023 congress.
“We will hold a congress, friends. Can a party exist without a congress? But of course, this must be done within the legal framework. There is currently a court order; once this is lifted, the congress will take place without any problem. We will meet with our legal colleagues to discuss how to organise it as soon as possible. I don’t know how it will be done; I am not a lawyer, it is a matter for the legal experts,” he said.
When asked about the proposal put forward the previous day by Özel during a mass rally held in Izmir, in which he called for the party to consult its grassroots members to elect the party president, Kılıçdaroğlu referred to the legal provisions set out in the party’s statutes and the will expressed by party delegates at congresses. “The method for electing the president is clear. The congress cannot be bypassed. It is the congresses that elect the presidents,” he stated.
Özel, who continues to present himself as the legitimate leader of the CHP and argues that behind the ruling reinstating Kılıçdaroğlu lie the AKP party and Erdoğan himself, has argued that the party’s nearly two million members should directly elect the next party president.
At a rally for CHP supporters held yesterday in the western city of Izmir, Özel proposed a direct election of the leader by the rank and file in an attempt to end the internal crisis. “Let’s have the two million CHP members elect a president,” he declared, arguing that a grassroots vote could put an end to the tensions affecting the main opposition party.
Kılıçdaroğlu: “You cannot buy a congress with money”
In this regard, Kılıçdaroğlu defended today the court ruling and stressed that it was the courts, not him, who had determined that the elections leading to Özel’s appointment as CHP secretary-general at the previous congress in 2023 were riddled with irregularities. “The courts say: ‘You cannot buy a congress with money’. The CHP must return to its founding moral principles,” he told reporters.
Referring further to the serious clashes on Sunday and the eviction from the CHP’s national headquarters in Ankara, Kılıçdaroğlu strongly criticised the decision by Özel’s supporters to block party members from entering the building, which led to police intervention: “The doors of the CHP headquarters have never, never been closed in the entire history of our party. How is it possible to bar CHP MPs from entering? That place is not anyone’s private property; it belongs to the people,” he said.
Calls to expel İmamoğlu and Özel from the CHP
In a new development that exacerbates the party’s internal crisis, Kılıçdaroğlu submitted yesterday a request to the Turkish parliament to invalidate the recent election of Özel as chair of the CHP parliamentary group, a post Özel assumed in a hastily convened vote on Saturday after being removed from the party leadership by the court ruling.
Furthermore, Kılıçdaroğlu has announced the launch of a wide-ranging internal disciplinary process and has hinted that some members could be expelled depending on the findings of a special commission, which will be tasked with investigating possible cases of corruption and other allegations.
Among the names mentioned as potentially facing future expulsion from the CHP is the former mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu. Furthermore, various factions within the party aligned with Kılıçdaroğlu are also calling for the expulsion of Özel, who refuses to comply with the court ruling and to recognise Kılıçdaroğlu as the party’s new leader. Özel, who is demanding that a congress be convened within 40 days to elect a general secretary and end the crisis, has for his part rejected several proposals calling for the creation of a new political party.
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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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