Eyewitnesses confirmed vote-buying allegations Monday as defendants appeared in an Ankara court regarding the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 2023 intraparty election.
"I know a provincial chair received $300,000 from the Istanbul team,” a man who acted as a voting delegate in the election at what critics call a "shady” convention.
Özgür Özel defeated incumbent Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the intraparty election that marked the start of a new era in Türkiye's oldest political party.
The Kılıçdaroğlu loyalists have been largely silenced by Özel and Istanbul’s former Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu emerged as a future presidential candidate after he switched sides to Özel, openly plotting to replace Kılıçdaroğlu.
Former members of the CHP, including the former mayor of Hatay province, have filed the lawsuit over the 2023 election, accusing Özel, Istanbul officials of the CHP and other prominent party figures of bribing the delegates to vote for him.
Y.G., whose initials were released to the public, said at Monday’s hearing that he was a CHP delegate in Erzurum and the provincial chair told him and other delegates that he would negotiate with "people in Ankara” and when he returned from the capital, "he handed everyone 50 euros ($58.88)."
"Prior to the election, the provincial chair told me that he needed four signatures (of delegates, for election procedures). He delivered $1,000 to everyone agreeing to sign," he said.
He added that the chairperson later asked them to take photos of the ballots they cast and post them on a closed WhatsApp group chat.
"I know the chairperson himself was paid $300,000 in exchange for swaying the votes," he claimed.
Y.Ö., another delegate, said the provincial chair of Batman province, where he was registered, asked them to vote for Özel. When he refused, he was allegedly expelled from the party.
S.T., another delegate, said boxes of cellphones were all around the hall where the voting took place and he saw every voter was handed "a leather bag containing something which was not cash," he said.
He claimed that someone called him before the voting and offered up to 500 euros in exchange for voting for Özel.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit demand that the congress be declared "absolutely null and void," which would strip Özel of power and restore Kılıçdaroğlu’s team or even impose a court-appointed trustee.
The CHP has spent most of 2025 reeling from corruption scandals in the municipalities it ran and the trial over the intraparty election. Party figures complained that the trial was "political” and should have been rejected outright.
Turkish officials, however, have repeatedly underlined that the judiciary in Türkiye acts independently, with courts free to rule based on legal procedures rather than political pressure.
The case is significant because of the precedent set in Istanbul, where the court already replaced CHP officials with trustees. The plaintiffs in the congress case sought the same remedy, though the court refrained from granting it in September.
Kılıçdaroğlu, ousted after more than a decade at the helm, has stayed silent during the proceedings. His lawyer insists he did not initiate the case. Still, many party members support his return and speculation abounds about his role if "absolute nullity” is declared.
The CHP officials loyal to Özel accuse pro-Kılıçdaroğlu factions of undermining party unity. The leadership insists it will not be destabilized by "any scenario," but the undercurrent of rivalry is unmistakable.
Adding to the tension are quiet discussions within party circles about the possibility of a new political formation if Kılıçdaroğlu were to take back control and refuse to call a congress promptly.
Some party figures warn that such a move could accelerate fractures within the CHP and pave the way for breakaway groups to establish a rival opposition party.