As the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) gets prepared for its general congress, which will be held this weekend, honorary members of the party are not planning to attend in protest of Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

Former CHP Deputy Şahin Mengü said that Kılıçdaroğlu sends the party's platform documents to honorary members and continues to ignore the party's basic principles. "I think that Kılıçdaroğlu's legitimacy has become debatable. He has been changing the CHP's basic values and principles since he became CHP deputy chairman. He did not even dismiss the deputy who showed disrespect to a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and the CHP. I am not planning to attend the general congress in this unlawfulness environment," he said.

In addition to Mengu, former Party Council member Tülay Özüerman also wrote a letter to Kılıçdaroğlu and indicated she will not attend the congress, even though she is an honorary member, unless the party returned to its basic principles. She said: "I wanted to talk during the congress, but the CHP turned into such a party that any criticism may to lead intra-party problems," and added: "When you speak of the provincial party administration in İzmir, the municipality is the first thing that to comes to mind, this is not normal for democracy." She also pointed to Kılıçdaroğlu's proposed changes to the party structure, and said "the Republic does not have any further meaning in the party. People who can criticize Atatürk, who made policy by using identities and religion and who tried to pull the party itself toward the People's Democratic Party's [HDP] line should be dismissed from the party.On the other hand, Mustafa Balbay, who already declared his intention to run for the party chairmanship against Kılıçdaroğlu, indicated to remove new proposals to define the CHP. He accepted the assertions about central party pressure on provisional administrations in order to prevent Balbay's candidacy. "Provisional party administrations get menacing phone calls from CHP central administrations about my candidacy," he said on a program on NTV.