The end is near in Türkiye’s oldest party for those loyal to Özgür Özel. Less than one month after he replaced Özel, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu launched disciplinary proceedings for several prominent names from the Özel camp. This week, he plans to launch similar action against chairs of the party’s several provincial branches.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost a 2023 election to Özel, returned to his former tenure in May when a court ruled that Özel’s election was the result of a vote-buying scheme in the intra-party vote. In the wake of an “absolute nullification” verdict for the Özel administration, Kılıçdaroğlu has pledged to clear the CHP of all “corruption and wrongdoings it is associated with.” This “cleansing” as Kılıçdaroğlu branded involves parting ways with lawmakers, mayors and other influential names in the party, mostly those implicated in corruption probes and sex scandals.
Nine lawmakers were referred to the disciplinary board last Wednesday and on Friday, the party’s administrative committee ordered disciplinary proceedings for Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan and Serkan Tuncer, mayor of Mersin’s Mezitli district. Özcan, who staged a protest march for the resignation of Kılıçdaroğlu in the wake of latter’s election defeat in the 2023 presidential elections, announced that he resigned from the party. Özcan was recently detained on charges of corruption as media reports uncovered his multiple affairs. The party also seeks the expulsion of Hasbi Dede, the former mayor of Giresun’s Görele district who was earlier arrested on charges of sexual harassment. Dede was already expelled from the party but his expulsion was nullified when the court ordered the nullification of the Özel administration.
Party sources speaking to the Sabah newspaper said that the Kılıçdaroğlu administration planned disciplinary proceedings this week for Ümit Erkol, chair of the party’s Ankara branch who was arrested in a corruption probe linked to CHP-run Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and Çağatay Güç, head of the Izmir branch. The administrations of both branches were behind the controversial pro-Özel rally outside Parliament last week where the two rival camps in the party confronted each other. The Sabah report says Mustafa Bozbey, former mayor of Bursa who was arrested in corruption and faces hundreds of years of prison terms and incumbent Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay are also among those facing disciplinary action. The sources told Sabah that the whole “cleansing” process would be completed within the next two months.
Meanwhile, ousted Chair Özgür Özel, who was rumored to have founded a new party with his supporters, told a rally on Saturday that they were “here and won’t leave.” Özel told the rally in the northwestern province of Kırklareli’s Lüleburgaz district that the state of the CHP after the nullification verdict was not an “internal matter” and insisted that it was a scheme perpetrated by others, namely the government, to divide the CHP.
Özel’s supporters claim Kılıçdaroğlu is a stooge of the government and have conveniently branded him as traitor, only after three years where Kılıçdaroğlu was viewed as the “savior” of the CHP to defeat the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Indeed, the most fervent supporters of the idea of nominating Kılıçdaroğlu for the 2023 presidential elections are now his most staunch critics. Ali Mahir Başarır, the lawmaker who faces expulsion under the new Kılıçdaroğlu tenure, faced backlash earlier this week when he portrayed Kılıçdaroğlu as a pathetic liar, though at the time he was among his major supporters before the presidential elections. Several CHP supporters on social media accused him of hypocrisy for the remarks in an online interview.
Along with Başarır, other names close to Özel has been quick to publicly reprimand the Kılıçdaroğlu administration but Özel sought to change the narrative in the Lüleburgaz rally where he never cited the name of Kılıçdaroğlu. He claimed the CHP had no dispute and “the real issue” was between the party and the government. Özel also said the nation was behind them and they brought together people of all political views. He referred to the party’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and said they followed in his footsteps and were working to unite people like Atatürk did in the War of Independence.
