Former leader of Türkiye's main opposition's increasingly fractious Republican People's Party (CHP) is allegedly plotting a comeback with the support of over half a thousand delegates following the local elections on March 31, according to local news website Haber Global.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, ousted by Özgür Özel and his main backer Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu in November for losing another presidential vote, has secured the signatures of some 550 delegates for an early party congress, Haber Global wrote, citing sources close to the party.
Kılıçdaroğlu's send-off had been fueled by an outcry of change at the CHP after the 75-year-old squandered what many viewed as the opposition's best chance to end President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's two-decade rule. During his 13-year reign, the CHP failed to surpass a historic ceiling of 25% nationwide support, suffering eight election defeats in total. Many also complained the CHP had become undemocratic, with too much power in the leader's hands, while run by Kılıçdaroğlu, who also riled both members and supporters when he refused to concede defeat and resigned for many months following May polls.
With Imamoğlu at his side, Özel rode the partywide frustration to victory with promises to overhaul failing policies and return to the founding values of the staunchly secular party. However, he has since been embattled by crises and scandals.
In addition to following in his predecessor's footsteps by courting a party known for its links to the PKK terrorist group to boost CHP votes, Özel faces flak for what his dissidents claim is a power struggle against Imamoğlu.
The Istanbul mayor, who gave the CHP a much-needed victory in municipal elections by winning the longstanding Justice and Development Party (AK Party) stronghold in the 2019 elections, is viewed as the "secret" chair of the party. He made the headlines before Özel's elections when the records of a meeting he held with other CHP figures for mounting a campaign against Kılıçdaroğlu leaked to the media.
Critics say that although he does not have an administrative role in the party, Imamoğlu had a hand in picking candidates for upcoming municipal elections.
According to Haber Global, Kılıçdaroğlu, lamenting to his close circle a "disarray" at the CHP, has been quietly working out of his office in Ankara since leaving to win his seat back by gaining over mayors and council members whom Özel and Imamoğlu discarded as candidates for the upcoming elections despite promising otherwise.
He didn't wait until the elections were completed and persuaded 550 delegates to push for a snap congress. But the party needs at least half – 683 to be exact – of its 1,366 delegates to vote "yes" to hold that congress, where the party chair and council are elected.
Kılıçdaroğlu initially wanted to nominate himself at the said congress, but his supporters convinced him to adopt a "transition period" first. Accordingly, he is considering nominating the CHP's Elazığ Representative, Gürsel Erol, for CHP leadership.
Erol had strongly backed Kılıçdaroğlu and harshly criticized Özel at CHP's November congress, after which he lost his seat at the party council, the executive body of the CHP.
According to other Turkish media outlets, Kılıçdaroğlu's backers plan to push for an extraordinary congress if Özel's mayoral candidates fail to win or keep the major constituencies, namely Istanbul and the capital Ankara, in the March 31 elections.
Özel, in the meantime, is reportedly "aware" of the ongoing plot and could discharge key Kılıçdaroğlu supporters after the election.
The incumbent CHP chairperson himself has been criticized for failing to take a united stance against PKK terrorism by refusing to sign a joint declaration with other parties following the killing of 12 soldiers by PKK in northern Iraq and openly courting the pro-PKK Green Left Party's (YSP) informal endorsement of CHP candidates, especially Imamoğlu.
His other decisions regarding candidate selection also stoked tensions, such as nominating his personal lawyer, Hüseyin Can Güner, for the mayoral seat of a high-profile Ankara district.