The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is mired in infighting over the choices for candidates for upcoming municipal elections. Although the party’s senior cadres seek to portray it as a democratic process, it apparently hurt the feelings of some supporters and stalwarts of the party.
On Tuesday, Gürsel Tekin, former deputy leader of the party who also served as a lawmaker, announced his resignation from the party, citing "schism." Hours earlier, Tekin was rumored to be announced as the mayoral candidate for Istanbul’s most populated district Esenyurt for the March 31 elections.
His resignation came weeks after Battal Ilgezdi, the long-serving mayor of the city’s Ataşehir, quit the party when he was not nominated again.
Also on Monday and Tuesday, several party supporters staged a demonstration in front of the party’s Istanbul offices, angered at the decision not to nominate CHP mayors in the Avcılar and Sarıyer districts again.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu faced the wrath of the same protesters as he unveiled candidates for the Istanbul districts on Tuesday. Protesters booed Imamoğlu, who was reportedly behind the party’s candidate picks not just for Istanbul but for other cities as well.
Imamoğlu is viewed as a "secret" chair of the CHP, according to critics of the party, mostly former members and those who parted ways with the party after Özgür Özel replaced Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu last November.
In a lengthy social media post on Tuesday, Tekin said he was "unable to work in the current CHP." He said the CHP had turned into a party where people’s political skills were ignored and, different factions and nepotism had emerged. He said that the party members focused on fighting each other instead of fighting the government and the rights of party members not close to any faction were violated.
"Instead of a spirit based on ideology, principles and thoughts, (the CHP) is now a place where people back each other based on their blood ties or being from the same town," he said.
CHP leaders often boasted an intraparty democracy at every level, and the party’s prominent members sought to portray their arguments as part of the criticism requisite of democracy. Yet, the latest elections where the CHP seeks to recoup its losses from last May’s general election apparently changed it.
Media reports say Özel and Imamoğlu are decisive in picking their own candidates, ignoring other members’ calls. One such name is Özel’s personal lawyer Hüseyin Can Güner, who was nominated for the CHP stronghold in Ankara, the Çankaya district. Güner’s relative, prominent CHP lawmaker Veli Ağbaba, is also nominated for the mayoral seat of the eastern province of Malatya.
Imamoğlu has also reportedly played a role in the nomination of Mesut Kösedağı, who is the spokesperson of the CHP group in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) assembly.
Several incumbent mayors who were not nominated again, such as Soner Çetin of the Çukurova district in Adana and Demirhan Elçin of the northeastern province of Artvin, expressed their disappointment when they were not nominated again and quit the party.
On Tuesday, Akif Kemal Akay, the incumbent mayor of Adana's Seyhan district, also resigned from the party when he was not nominated again by the CHP.
In a scathing criticism, Akay said the CHP he once served proudly was "occupied" by administrators "whose sole purpose is looting public resources and cannot tolerate a mayor whose accomplishments are hailed by the public."