Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, who spearheads a “change” movement against main Turkish opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu confronted each other at a meeting of CHP mayors in the capital Ankara on Saturday.
It was the first time two men came together since a video showing Imamoğlu organizing a secret meeting to discuss ways to oust Kılıçdaroğlu from his seat leaked earlier last week. İmamoğlu and Kılıçdaroğlu smiled and shook hands as the CHP leader welcomed mayors, but the ensuing meeting was a war of words.
Kılıçdaroğlu faces a stream of calls to step down as the head of Türkiye’s oldest party after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defeated him on May 28 presidential runoff. Imamoğlu was among vocal supporters of what he called “a change” in the party, which failed to unseat Erdoğan under Kılıçdaroğlu’s leadership since 2010. In the leaked video, he can be heard calling for “extraordinary” party elections in his discussions with Kılıçdaroğlu’s former aides.
The CHP leader has termed the leaked meeting as “unethical” in a recent televised interview. At the meeting of mayors, Imamoğlu defended himself and said the meeting was indeed “ethical” as it was a “discussion on the party’s future.”
Imamoğlu was late for the meeting, held at the CHP headquarters, which was attended by most of the 250 party mayors across Türkiye. Around 36 mayors abstained from the meeting. The mayor allegedly told Kılıçdaroğlu during his speech that he would “resign” if he continued leading the CHP. He also said he found his leadership “a failure,” and this “failure” might contribute to “losing more municipalities” in the upcoming municipal elections scheduled for 2024, according to the media reports.
For his part, Kılıçdaroğlu told the meeting that he was “not a fan” of the top CHP seat and could step down “if a candidate with a clean sheet” emerges, a pointed remark toward Imamoğlu who is tangled in several lawsuits on corruption and insult.
