Özgür Özel, chairperson of the New Party (YP), which he founded after parting ways with the Republican People’s Party (CHP), lashed out at Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the incumbent chair of his former party. In an interview with broadcaster Koza TV on Tuesday, Özel, who was photographed warmly shaking hands with Kılıçdaroğlu at an event on Sept. 2, put away pleasantries as he talked about the latter at length.
Özel dismissed Kılıçdaroğlu’s earlier remarks about a potential future alliance and said the YP would not ally with “an illegitimate administration.”
In an interview on Tuesday, Kılıçdaroğlu had said that his party may ally with the YP in the next election. The veteran politician, who was branded a “traitor” by YP supporters after he was reinstated to his post by a court ruling, told Euronews that they were open to supporting the YP’s presidential candidate, former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, if he is eligible to run in the next election.
“Twenty-four hours is a very long time in politics,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, quoting former President Süleyman Demirel. “Political relations should be based on the country’s interests. Politics have no room for hostility,” he said regarding the possibility of an alliance with the YP, whose members fiercely resisted Kılıçdaroğlu’s return to the CHP chair.
