The CHP, Turkey’s largest opposition party, has a new party leader. At the weekend, Özgür Özel achieved what is a rarity in Turkish politics: he removed an incumbent chairman from office in a democratic vote. It is the end of the career of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s challenger in the presidential election in May.
Despite his defeat by President Erdoğan, 74-year-old Kılıçdaroğlu wanted to continue as party leader. He has been at the head of the CHP since 2010, during which time he did not win a single national election – even though he won 48 percent of the vote in the runoff against Erdoğan in May. Many in Turkey saw the presidential election as a real opportunity for change. Kılıçdaroğlu could have become a historical figure; for a few weeks it looked as if he could end the Erdoğan era.
The fact that Kılıçdaroğlu denied any responsibility after Erdoğan’s victory and refused to resign contributed to the hopelessness in Turkey. Kılıçdaroğlu gives the impression of an official who is more concerned with his party career than with the country. He spoke of change in the CHP and fired his advisors. But he himself stuck to his chair, even though Ekrem İmamoğlu, the popular mayor of Istanbul and CHP member, openly called on him to withdraw.
Big enthusiasm? Does not trigger Özgür Özel
Before the CHP party conference, Özgür Özel, 49, was considered the candidate of the innovators, i.e. an opponent of incumbent Kılıçdaroğlu. Still, he’s not someone who inspires too much enthusiasm. Özel became chairman of the parliamentary group this year when Kılıçdaroğlu entered the presidential election campaign, previously he was Kılıçdaroğlu’s deputy in parliament. The former pharmacist has a classic political career behind him.
Whether he could win against Erdoğan in the next elections is not even being discussed. It is too early for that; the opposition has yet to regain its composure after the defeat in May. What is more important for the CHP are the local elections next March, which will involve the important town halls of the metropolises of Istanbul and Ankara. The CHP conquered it in 2019 and thus inflicted one of his greatest defeats on Erdoğan.
The mayors of the two cities, Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, are among the few from the opposition who have achieved real popularity. However, they themselves could not run as party leaders because then they would have had to give up their town hall positions. This would have been particularly risky in Istanbul, where the city parliament would have chosen Imamoğlu’s successor. Erdoğan’s AKP holds the majority in parliament. In that case, the opposition would have lost its control over the country’s largest and most important city, just a few months before the local elections.
Solidarity with the Palestinians is very strong in Turkey
İmamoğlu was probably not sure whether the party cadres would support him. Many in the CHP consider him to be too conservative and too open to religious voters. So he switched to supporting the candidate Özel – against Kılıçdaroğlu. When he won the second round of voting at the party conference, around three in the morning, it was İmamoğlu who announced victory. On Platform X, İmamoğlu wrote: “Now it is Turkey’s turn to change.”
While İmamoğlu and the new party leader Özel are now preparing for the local election campaign, Turkey is primarily talking about the war in the Gaza Strip. There is great solidarity with the Palestinians across all parties. Erdoğan has sharpened his tone towards Israel; he said he no longer sees Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as an interlocutor. Israel is committing a “massacre” in the Gaza Strip. Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Israel for what it said were consultations.