Answering reporters’ questions on Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan affirmed that he will visit the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in June. He said he would meet Özgür Özel after June 9. Erdoğan also said he was open to a meeting with Müsavat Dervişoğlu, leader of the opposition Good Party (IP). “We have no reason not to meet,” he told reporters.
The “normalization” process between the government and the opposition that started with the landmark meeting of Erdoğan and Özel, moves forward with more meetings, Turkish media reported on Wednesday.
The shadow Cabinet of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is in touch with ministers and held its first meeting with Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Mehmet Özhaseki, broadcaster NTV reported. Özhaseki received the CHP’s deputy chair in charge of local administration Gökan Zeybek and two CHP lawmakers. Media outlets reported that the meeting was “positive” and Zeybek handed a file regarding the challenges the municipalities face to Özhaseki.
Separately, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan received the CHP’s shadow Foreign Minister Ilhan Uzgel, who requested the minister inform his party more about the government’s foreign policy and the minister’s diplomatic visits abroad.
The CHP’s shadow ministers are expected to meet Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya and the minister of National Defense, Yaşar Güler, in the coming days.
The “climate change” in Turkish politics following the March 31 municipal elections is expected to take another turn with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s anticipated visit to the headquarters of his party’s main rival.
Abdullah Güler, who heads a parliamentary group of Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party), said on Sunday that the visit will likely take place in the first week of June, after a convention of the AK Party where members will evaluate the future following the elections.
Erdoğan received Özgür Özel, head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), at AK Party headquarters following the elections. The meeting, held in a warm atmosphere, was the product of what Erdoğan called a “softening” approach in Turkish politics, where the CHP outdid the AK Party in several strongholds of the latter. The two men agreed on another meeting, this time at CHP headquarters.
Güler told broadcaster Kanal 7 last Sunday that they hoped there would be more meetings between the CHP and the AK Party. The two parties battled for more than two decades to win the hearts of voters and the AK Party emerged victorious in almost all elections against the CHP, which currently stands as Türkiye’s second biggest party. The CHP, the oldest party in the country, allied with other parties in last year’s presidential elections but lost to Erdoğan and the AK Party. After the 2023 vote, Özel replaced Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as the party’s leader, and for the first time, it secured wins without a formal alliance with other opposition parties.
