As political parties are soon to announce their deputy candidates for the upcoming Nov. 1 early parliamentary elections, it has been reported by sources close to the Republican People's Party (CHP) that Vice Chairman Murat Özçelik, who declared after the June 7 elections that he and his family voted for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), will not be nominated for deputy candidacy.
During the CHP's previous Party Assembly meeting, the party had witnessed a brawl between former Kahramanmaraş deputy Durdu Özbolat and Özçelik after Özçelik said he and the people around him had voted for the HDP in the June 7 elections. Özbolat said it was unacceptable to have a person who did not vote for the CHP as vice chairman.Although a number of CHP members, such as Vice Chairman Mehmet Bekaroğlu, have openly expressed their support for the HDP, it has been reported that it is very likely Özçelik will not be nominated as a deputy candidate for the upcoming elections. In this regard, it has been indicated by political circles in Ankara that retired ambassador Ünal Çeviköz will be nominated as a deputy candidate for Istanbul instead of Özçelik. Çeviköz joined the CHP following Murat Karayalçın becoming the party's Istanbul provincial chairman. Karayalçın had replaced the former ambassador in the CHP's Istanbul administration in late July. The re-nomination of another former ambassador, Osman Korutürk, who is a long-serving CHP deputy, for the Nov. 1 elections is also under consideration. He became a CHP deputy after the 2011 general elections.
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