CHP will not tolerate shadowy structures within the state, Kılıçdaroğlu says


With less than two weeks left until the June 7 general elections, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has altered his party's election strategy in efforts to increase vote counts. During a TV program on Sunday he said that the CHP will not accept any sort of parallel structure. Compared to previous public surveys conducted by the Ankara-based Objective Research Center (ORC) to current poll results, support for the CHP has decreased significantly where 77 percent of respondents believed that Kılıçdaroğlu should leave his post and 23 percent believed there is no need for a change in leadership.Criticizing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) for investigating the Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 coup attempts and their alleged connection with the Gülen Movement, Kılıçdaroğlu said on Sunday that the CHP was accused of collaborating with Gülenists. In this regard, CHP İzmir Deputy Birgül Ayman Güler was referred to the disciplinary committee for claiming that the party is allegedly cooperating with the Gülen Movement. Güler had said: "Despite the party administration's denials, the CHP cooperated with the Gülen Movement during the March 30 local elections."A recent public survey results by the ORC conducted between April 9 and April 13 found that 23.7 percent of participants said they would vote for the CHP, making it the closest rival to the AK Party. Although Kılıçdaroğlu denied allegations of cooperating with Gülenists, the Gülenist media continues its efforts to campaign in the favor of the CHP. Additionally, CHP Istanbul Deputy Umut Oran, whose name had been mentioned due to his alleged ties with the Gülen Movement prior to the March 30 elections because he posted on Twitter that then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would flee to Malaysia before the election, was excluded from the party's candidate lists due to pressure.