Messages of unity and slogans accusing betrayals resonated on the streets and social media as the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) held rival meetings on Tuesday.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the former leader of the party reinstated to his post with a court ruling last month, was scheduled to chair his first parliamentary group meeting before he changed his mind at the last minute, as Özgür Özel, who was ousted after a trial on vote-buying allegations, vowed to address the same meeting.
Supporters of Özel and Kılıçdaroğlu confronted each other outside Parliament before the speeches and scuffles broke out among crowds accusing Özel of association with the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and those branding Kılıçdaroğlu a “traitor” for accepting the court ruling. Parliament’s administration restricted access for visitors to the parliamentary group meeting, fearing more scuffles inside the building.
The Özel camp is defiant of the court verdict that nullified his chairmanship, on the grounds that his associates bought votes in a 2023 intra-party election that ended the lengthy rule of Kılıçdaroğlu at the party. Özel relented to leaving the headquarters in May after hours of confrontation with police but called Kılıçdaroğlu to hold a new election, stating that he would be re-elected to his post. The Kılıçdaroğlu camp, meanwhile, insists that the party should “cleanse” itself of “corruption,” in reference to mayors and other officials detained, arrested or implicated in a wide array of corruption cases. Among those figures accused of corruption is Ekrem Imamoğlu, former mayor of Istanbul and future presidential candidate of the CHP who campaigned for Özel in the 2023 intra-party vote.
Özel and his supporters believe they are the only alternative to the government ruled by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and claim Kılıçdaroğlu succumbed to what they call a plot by the government to eliminate the competition. Opinion polls they tout indicate the CHP is ahead of the AK Party, even though there are still two years to the official date of elections.
Kılıçdaroğlu rejects the allegations and, in his few messages since his reinstatement, pledged to weed out the corrupt members of the party. On Tuesday, he had a more conciliatory tone. In a social media post responding to pro-Özel Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş pleading with him not to hold the meeting at Parliament, Kılıçdaroğlu used the “father’s place” motto adopted by the Özel supporters in reference to the party. He vowed to spoil the plot of “those seeking to pit sons and daughters of this party against each other.”
“It is not the time to fight, it is time to stand shoulder by shoulder. I call on all my comrades for calm and to use common sense. It is time to support the father’s house. Thus, I call all members of the party to the CHP general offices for our group meeting,” he said.
Özel, however, piled criticism on the Kılıçdaroğlu administration while claiming that he was still the “elected” leader of the CHP.
“This is where the elected members of the CHP are,” he told a cheering crowd at Parliament.
At the party’s headquarters, the meeting hall was full before Kılıçdaroğlu appeared behind a pulpit for his address. His supporters chanted “traitor Özgür” and “thieves” in reference to Özel’s associates. Outside the building, the Kılıçdaroğlu supporters confronted a media crew from pro-CHP Halk TV, which now serves as a mouthpiece of the Özel supporters and urged them to leave the premises.
On Monday, Kılıçdaroğlu accommodated more to the Özel camp and announced the start of the party’s congress process, which will culminate with a new intra-party election. He said that they would formally launch their congress process with its first party assembly meeting on Thursday. In a statement shared on social media on Monday, the CHP leader emphasized unity within the party, describing its members as a large family brought together by a common purpose despite differing views. He reiterated the party's goals of strengthening democracy and justice in Türkiye during the second century of the republic and called on party members to demonstrate solidarity throughout the congress process.
In his speech, however, Kılıçdaroğlu escalated the tone of his criticism of the Özel administration while reiterating his earlier remarks on cleaning up the party. “The CHP congresses have no place for interests, cash,” he said, in a reference to the 2023 vote-buying allegations.
“We will purge the corruption. We will engage in clean politics. We will expel all involved in the corruption. This party cannot accept corruption. This is a party which built a state,” he said.
“Never in its history has the CHP seen negotiations over nightclub tables (to sway the voters’ opinions in intra-party election). They criticize me for saying this. But I will repeat it. The CHP has morals and virtues. Those selling their will have no place in this party,” he said.
He said a CHP chair cannot go abroad to seek support, in an open reference to Özel’s visits to Europe where he called on the EU to side with his administration against what he called politically motivated trials of its mayors. “How can the members of a party that fought occupiers, from Greeks to Britons and the French, ask for support from them?” he said.
The CHP’s main rival AK Party has been mostly quiet about the infighting in the party, with President Erdoğan repeatedly saying that it was “the CHP’s own affair.” The AK Party ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has been more vocal about the process. MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli on Tuesday said Özel was fueling the tensions. Bahçeli told the parliamentary group meeting of his party on Tuesday that CHP now had two paths.
“Either it will resolve its internal issue based on law and common sense, or it will carry the knot it has tied with its own hands into our nation's agenda as yet another burden. Indeed, the country's agenda is not a packhorse meant to carry the weight of political parties' internal reckonings. In politics, every word has consequences, every stance has its counterpart, and every action taken in anger comes with a cost. If one wishes not to be embarrassed in the end, and not to remain indebted to the conscience of the nation, then one must awaken from heedless slumber and keep one's eyes wide open. Politics is the art of preferring wisdom over impulsiveness, reason over rage, and composure over aggression in the service of the people. If one wishes to become a master of this art, then one's words should be heeded. Therefore, our advice to Mr. Özgür Özel is this: He should refrain from carrying the CHP's internal tensions into the public square, from spreading the cracks within the party across the entire country, and from presenting a struggle for position as if it were a heroic defense of democracy,” Bahçeli stated.
“The dual leadership at party headquarters, the unrest spreading through the party organization, and the crisis spilling into the corridors of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye are all plainly visible. Trying to suppress a boiling cauldron by pressing down its lid is not a wise course of action. One should stop driving the CHP into even greater turmoil, as though pressing the accelerator of an overheating vehicle. Before the engine burns out, before the steering wheel locks up, before the vehicle completely leaves the road, order must be restored to this course as soon as possible,” he said. Bahçeli also quoted Muslim caliph Ali, a figure revered by the Alevi community of whom Kılıçdaroğlu is a member, saying: "Do not let ambition make you a servant when God has created you to live free."
