Kılıçdaroğlu says CHP must follow legal process before new convention
Reinstated main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said on May 27 that the Republican People’s Party would hold a new convention only after a court ruling annulling the party’s 2023 vote becomes final, deepening a leadership dispute with rival Özgür Özel.
“We will hold a congress, friends. A congress will be held after the injunction is lifted, there is no problem,” Kılıçdaroğlu told reporters in Ankara, referring to the expected confirmation of the lower court ruling by Türkiye’s appeals courts.
The latest move marks a new page in the struggle for control of the CHP following last week’s court ruling overturning the party’s 2023 leadership election. The decision removed Özel from the chairmanship and restored Kılıçdaroğlu.
Özel has continued to present himself as the CHP’s elected leader amid mounting internal tensions and called for some 2 million CHP members to choose the next chairman directly. Kılıçdaroğlu rejected the proposal, saying party rules required leadership elections to be conducted through a congress process.
