A deepening internal crisis within Türkiye’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) escalated this week after the party’s Izmir Buca district leadership announced a collective resignation following intervention by the party’s central executive.
Buca District Chair Çağdaş Kaya said he and the entire district executive board stepped down after the party’s Central Executive Committee (MYK) moved to remove him from office.
The decision followed allegations that Kaya had acted as an “instigator” in an earlier incident involving the assault of a street vendor by municipal workers, claims that he has denied.
Kaya said the party headquarters had twice demanded his resignation without presenting what he called concrete justification. In a sharply worded statement, he accused the central leadership of sidelining grassroots members and prioritizing personal loyalty over merit.
“Throughout our term, we listened to the streets, not the seats,” Kaya underlined, adding that decisions imposed behind closed doors contradicted the party’s founding principles.
The crisis comes amid heightened scrutiny of CHP’s Buca municipality after reports that Mayor Görkem Duman vacationed abroad during a municipal workers’ strike, sparking public backlash.
The episode mirrors a recent dispute in Erzincan, where the CHP headquarters removed provincial head Yalçın Tanrıverdi, who had been elected unanimously by party members, without public explanation.
The developments have fueled debate within the party over internal democracy and central authority.
