As intra-party disputes in the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) continue after the April 16 constitutional referendum, the party's Mersin deputy Fikri Sağlar, who received a censure decision from the party's Higher Disciplinary Board (YDK) over his criticisms of the party chairman, strongly criticized the decision and said: "While respecting the decision, I feel that I did not deserve to receive such penalty due to an expression. It did not coincide with the CHP."

The CHP's disciplinary board decision came shortly after Sağlar's criticisms of party Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as he accused Kılıçdaroğlu of establishing one-man rule in the main opposition party.

Commenting on the YDK's decision via his personal Twitter account yesterday, CHP deputy Sağlar underlined that his party should've been the guarantor of the freedom of expression and freedom of thought, saying: "It [the CHP] should've shown everyone that it applied freedom within itself first. I leave the censure decision, which is a heavy penalty against the freedom of expression and thought, to weigh heavily on the consciousness of the public. Through the censure decision, my candidacy rights to hold a congress within a year have been annulled and my party council membership has ended." While noting that he will exercise his right to object to the YDK's decision, the CHP deputy continued with his criticism, saying: "Those who cannot give hope to the public are always afraid of those who do," referring to Kılıçdaroğlu without mentioning his name.

Following the April 16 referendum on constitutional reform in which the "No" campaign led by the CHP received 48.6 percent of the votes, Sağlar criticized Chairman Kılıçdaroğlu for his conduct during the campaign and the party in general. A veteran politician and one of the prominent figures of the party's left-wing deputies, 64-year-old Sağlar also hinted that he might run for candidacy in the upcoming CHP congress. However, as a result of the disciplinary decision he is now unable to run as a candidate against Kılıçdaroğlu. Furthermore, Antalya deputy and former chairman Deniz Baykal recently stated that Kılıçdaroğlu should run for CHP chairmanship if he is to announce his candidacy for presidential elections in 2019, otherwise adding that he should refrain from running for the chairmanship. The fate of the main opposition remains unknown with intra-party disputes and criticism against Kılıçdaroğlu continuing.