Reinstated Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is expected to fire at least 50 more people from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) within two months amid a growing rift between his supporters and the supporters of ousted Chair Özgür Özel. Özel, for now, is spared from the wrath of the Kılıçdaroğlu administration. The party denied claims that he would be removed from his current tenure as parliamentary group chair of the party.
Nevertheless, a report by the Sabah newspaper says at least 50 provincial chairs of the party will lose their seats by September. So far, the party parted ways with 10 provincial chairs who sided with Özgür Özel in the aftermath of a court verdict that annulled Özel’s chairmanship over allegations of vote-buying in a 2023 intra-party election. Özel views himself as the de facto chair of the party and repeatedly called Kılıçdaroğlu to hold a new intra-party election. The Kılıçdaroğlu administration announced earlier that the process for a new election will be launched in September. Although Özel is confident of winning a new election, he is also rumored to be preparing to switch to a new party or establish a new one, based on the outcome of the process, which will be held two years before the scheduled date for the presidential elections.
Kılıçdaroğlu, glorified by CHP supporters including Özel during his presidential election campaign against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, found himself in hot water after accepting the job to lead the party again, three years after losing the intra-party race to Özel. Özel repeatedly condemns the move and says Kılıçdaroğlu works for the government, claiming that the court verdict ousting him was politically motivated. Özel’s supporters brand Kılıçdaroğlu as a “traitor.” This slogan was chanted en masse when Özel was visiting a cemevi, an Alevi place of worship, in Istanbul earlier this week. The incident sparked outrage among several Alevi associations. Although the Alevi community’s political views are diverse, it counts fervent supporters of both Özel and Kılıçdaroğlu among its members. Seven Alevi federations released a joint declaration on Saturday over the incident in Istanbul and accused the Özel supporters of politicizing a place of worship. The federations said, “ugly slogans constituted a hate crime.”
“Certain political actors and their supporters turned the cemevi into a venue for a political rally. Things that should never happen at a cemevi happened. We are also worried to see that politicians present at Garip Dede Cemevi did not intervene in this act of disrespect,” the joint statement said.
