The Turkish opposition’s former leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is determined to continue active politics despite a rough ouster from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) after losing a key presidential race last year.
“I don’t have the luxury to quit politics; I will continue producing solutions for our country’s problems,” Kılıçdaroğlu told a local news platform on Sunday.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2023 presidential election, was unseated from CHP chairmanship in a hurried intra-party election last November and replaced by Özgür Özel, who broke the CHP’s historic ceiling of 25% nationwide support in the March 31 local elections.
However, power struggles have since plagued Türkiye’s oldest political party, with remaining Kılıçdaroğlu supporters forming an increasingly divisive front against Özel and another faction emerging on behalf of the CHP’s popular mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoğlu, known for presidential ambitions of his own.
Many members have quit the party in recent months, criticizing what they called the “imbalance” and “straying from core values” at the secularist party.
As infighting rages on, the former CHP leader reasserted his involvement in a challenging declaration earlier this month titled, “I’m still here,” seemingly targeting both Imamoğlu and Özel. He on the other hand has a significant number of supporters in the CHP congress apparently willing to rally for Imamoğlu should push come to shove.
Kılıçdaroğlu insists he has no personal ambitions but admits there is a “need for change” in the CHP’s regulations.
When asked whether he would run again for CHP leadership, which he held for 13 years until November, Kılıçdaroğlu ominously replied, “As the late (President Süleyman) Demirel said: ‘Politics has an entry door but no exit.’”
“I have a responsibility not to overlook politics, which would mean overlooking Türkiye’s problems,” he added.
The CHP is expected to hold a charter congress early next month to redraw a road map for the party ahead of the 2028 general elections. However, insiders have alleged Özel will be looking to exclude pro-Kılıçdaroğlu figures here to cement his power while Imamoğlu will try to turn the congress into a council election by collecting signatures from the delegates. He recently held a one-on-one meeting with Kılıçdaroğlu.
About this meeting, Kılıçdaroğlu said the pair could “always hold discussions and debate various suggestions to reach a final conclusion.”
“My only wish is that our party operates in unity, which can happen with internal discussions and solutions on a healthy ground,” he said, adding that he would meet with Özel ahead of the charter congress, which is scheduled for Sept. 4.
