CHP opposition faction reaches quorum for convention, working on manifesto

As an internal opposition group continues to challenge the chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's leadership by collecting the quorum signatures for an extraordinary convention, Gaye Usluer, a member of the CHP council who is also a prominent name in the opposition group, said that they have been working on a "Change Manifesto" via her Twitter account yesterday.

Usluer said that the opposition leader Muharrem İnce has been working on the manifesto and scheduling meetings with the supporting delegates in order to determine the content of the changes in the party.

Meanwhile yesterday, Kılıçdaroğlu paid a visit to Parliament Speaker Binali Yıldırım to congratulate him as well as to talk about the Enis Berberoğlu case.

Kılıçdaroğlu who has been criticizing Berberoğlu's case, spoke to the press regarding the details of the meeting. He stated that they talked about their thoughts on Berberoğlu, an Istanbul deputy from the CHP who was sentenced to five years in prison in June last year for leaking secret information about the National Intelligence Organization (MİT).

Reportedly, one of the main figures of the opposition group in the CHP, Yaşar Tüzün, a deputy of Bilecik province, declared over Twitter that they have collected the required number of signatures to convene an extraordinary party convention as of Tuesday and said that they will maintain the process until next Monday before submitting the signatures.

While Kılıçdaroğlu supporters claim that quorum number has not been gathered yet by the opposition group, Kılıçdaroğlu called out the group saying, "If they have collected enough signatures then they may as well bring them in, the headquarters is here." Since early this week, Kılıçdaroğlu has been emphasizing fundamental changes to be made in the party as well as signaling new justice protests diverting the intraparty discussions from the extraordinary convention. He has also continued to highlight the Berberoğlu case through several different mediums.