Özgür Özel seems determined not to repeat the mistake of his predecessor. The leader of Türkiye’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) stressed he would not run for presidential office in the next election.
“I want to go down in the history as chair of a party when it came to power in the second century of the Republic of Türkiye,” Özel told the broadcaster Habertürk over the weekend.
“This is not something you can underestimate as a political goal. It will be the greatest honor for me to head a party that will end the 25 years of governance by Erdoğan, a party that will switch back to the parliamentary system. I am merely a coach of a football team. I will decide on who will score the penalty shot near the end of the match. If I become the one holding the ball, I may be confused,” Özel said.
Before the presidential race, Özel faces the test of “change” in his party where he took the helm in November 2023. The CHP will hold a “charter convention,” where it mulls changing some intraparty rules, such as limits to the tenure of the chair. Özel said the September convention will replace the charter that is “unfortunately not very democratic.”
The head of Türkiye’s oldest party founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the republic’s founder and first president, succeeded Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu after the latter lost a presidential race to incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Kılıçdaroğlu only managed to bring the race to a second round despite the support of the six-party alliance he formed with smaller opposition parties. The CHP’s failure to win the general election was tied to Kılıçdaroğlu’s low-key campaign and perceived lack of support among voters of other parties in the opposition bloc which crumbled immediately after the 2023 election. Nevertheless, Özel told Habertürk that he would seek input from Kılıçdaroğlu on the charter convention. Özel was accused by his critics of expelling supporters of Kılıçdaroğlu after he took office and media outlets reported that Kılıçdaroğlu would seek an “election convention” in September with the endorsement of delegates still loyal to him within the party.
The election of Özel in a tumultuous intraparty election was expected to usher in a period of stability and turn around the party’s fortunes against the Justice and Development (AK Party), but instead, it triggered a fresh wave of conflicts in the CHP. Power struggles, intense lobbying and factional disputes have continued to dominate the party's internal dynamics, with increasing polar opposites emerging between Özel and Kılıçdaroğlu supporters. Özel, who has vowed to mend the divisions in the party, initially admitted pro-Kılıçdaroğlu names to his central executive committee but the increasing rift has pushed him to do a U-turn as he fights to secure his position. His dissidents rise in number every day, despite him being credited with unprecedented wins in the municipal elections, a first in decades for the CHP.
Özel’s administration began a covert discharge campaign earlier in spring against pro-Kılıçdaroğlu members who allegedly tried to sabotage the March 31 local elections but the storm picked up last week. Former Deputy Chair Eren Erdem last Tuesday submitted an angry resignation after being referred to the party’s disciplinary board for his discharge, blasting Özel’s administration, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, known for his relentless lobbying to claim the CHP presidency, and his consultant Murat Ongun in the process. Erdem lambasted the CHP administration for allowing the century-old party to become “putty in the hands of mayors through communication tricks and manipulations.” “If you allow their paid officers to discharge this party’s children, their boldness will soon turn against you and you will be unable to do any politics,” Erdem said. “It’s clear a healthy journey is impossible with a vindictive mindset that aims to clean up the party of members opposed it at the congress through various excuses,” Erdem said.
Insiders have also alleged Özel is looking to exclude those figures close to Kılıçdaroğlu as soon as the party concludes its convention next month, where the party will finalize its bylaws.
Deputy Chair Aylin Nazlıaka, who was recently defeated in the women’s branches congress, pulls the head of the list.
The party will hold a symbolic ceremony on Sept. 4 in Sivas, the Turkish province where Atatürk rallied the nation for unity before the war of independence in the aftermath of World War I more than a century ago.
The charter congress, which is to redraw a road map for the party ahead of the 2028 general elections, could however be subject to change and scaled down to a smaller workshop – a move that some see as an attempt to quell dissent.
The CHP is encouraged by the gains in the March 31 municipal elections and views the convention as the first step to winning the upcoming elections.
But the road to the government will likely be a bumpy one for the CHP, with rifts deepening among the Özel, Kılıçdaroğlu and Imamoğlu factions.
Imamoğlu’s presidential hopes were dashed by a lawsuit that seeks to ban him from politics, as well as Kılıçdaroğlu’s ambitions in last year’s general elections. He has since been building a steady supporter base – having 15 of his supporters in the 60-seat party council – to run for CHP chair and ultimately president in 2028.
He is alleged to be aiming to turn the upcoming charter congress into a council election by collecting 50+1 signatures from the delegates. Sources have claimed he even had his close friend Deputy Chair Gökhan Günaydın visit Kılıçdaroğlu to ask for support in the congress. Kılıçdaroğlu has a significant number of supporters in the congress.
The former CHP leader however has reasserted his involvement in a challenging declaration earlier this month titled: “I’m still here,” seemingly targeting both Imamoğlu and Özel.
Pundits have said he is attempting to re-enter the political arena after a not-so-graceful exit last year but he has insisted he didn’t have any personal ambitions while admitting there was a “need for change in the party’s regulations.”
Özel also spoke about the possibility of an “early election,” an idea floated by the opposition as CHP unexpectedly won some strongholds of the ruling AK Party in the March 31 municipal elections. In the aftermath of the election, Özel said he would not exploit the election success for a call to an early general election. He reiterated this view in his latest interview but added that Türkiye suffered from economic problems and those problems may pave the way for an early election.
