In search of possible partners for an alliance, the Republican People's Party (CHP) continues to hold meetings with political parties hoping to reach agreement over its "principles."
CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu met with the chair of the Motherland Party (ANAP) yesterday and he is expected to meet with Good Party (İYİ Party) Chairwoman Meral Akşener tomorrow. According to Akşener's statement, an alliance is not a matter of discussion. Akşener reiterated on Monday that she will run for the presidency by herself and the visit is about the party's last congress.
Speaking about the alliance possibilities, Kılıçdaroğlu said last week that all political parties need to sit together to talk about Turkey's problems, but they are not going to make a special identification for an alliance.
"The name might be called 'meeting in the context of principles.' Therefore, we are not making a special alliance identification, we are exchanging opinions in a broader context, whether on the problems and how to look at them, or which strategies that should be followed in order to overcome the problems of Turkey," he said.
On the other hand, Kılıçdaroğlu met with the center-right Democrat Party (DP) Chairman Gültekin Uysal on April 5 at the party's headquarters. Despite the positive statements on the CHP's side, the DP has not announced any possibility to make an alliance with the CHP.
On March 5, the CHP visited the Democratic Left Party (DSP), which seems a possible working partner because of the past collaboration they made in the 2007 parliamentary elections. However, the DSP announced that they are not going to make an alliance, and instead they will run with their own candidate. "We will run with our own candidate in the upcoming presidential elections. In the elections of the deputies, we will nominate 600 candidates by showing them in 81 provinces for the elections," DSP Chairman Önder Aksakal said Monday.
Recently, rumors about a possible alliance between the CHP and the pro-PKK People's Democratic Party (HDP) have increased as CHP Deputy Chairman Öztürk Yılmaz visited the arrested former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş in prison on April 3. Following the widely criticized visit, Ahmet Özer, an HDP deputy candidate, moderated a panel that the CHP Mersin provincial head organized on Monday.
Commenting on the alliance, Yılmaz said on April 8 that the CHP will make an alliance that focuses on everyone.
"The alliance that we will build will be a broad alliance of the people. We think we can achieve this," he said Sunday. The alliance discussions were also subjected to criticism among the CHP deputies. After Kılıçdaroğlu's meeting with deputies last week to discuss possible alliance options, the majority of the participants reportedly expressed views in favor of entering the elections without an alliance.
