The groundbreaking meeting between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel took place in a constructive and productive atmosphere, and the president will pay a return visit soon, sources said Thursday.
President Erdoğan greeted and welcomed the CHP chair in the hallway.
According to CHP sources, the two sides covered a distance in resolving some issues. AK Party sources said the president would soon visit Özel at the CHP headquarters in Ankara.
AK Party sources said Erdoğan congratulated Özel for his party's victory in the municipal elections, and said that the main opposition party gained ground after Özel replaced former CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
These issues included the new Constitution, the economy, pension payments, municipal debt and other problems, including Wednesday’s May Day incidents.
They also exchanged presents: President Erdoğan gifted Özel a set of coffee cups from the National Palaces, while Özel gifted Erdoğan an object entitled "The Fire of the Republic."
The meeting took place at the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) headquarters in the capital Ankara and lasted 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Özel or the president did not make a statement following the meeting and the latter went straight to the CHP headquarters to evaluate the meeting with fellow party staff.
AK Party Deputy Chairman Mustafa Elitaş accompanied Erdoğan, while CHP Istanbul Deputy Namık Tan accompanied Özel during the meeting.
The meeting marked the first official talks between the two politicians since Özel was elected to lead the CHP last November and the first meeting between Erdoğan and a CHP leader in the past eight years.
Prior to that, Erdoğan and Özel briefly met during an event on the occasion of a national holiday on April 23. This is the first formal meeting between Erdoğan and a CHP leader in eight years.
Widely covered by Turkish media, the meeting is viewed as a sign of softening ties between the two rival parties. It comes in the wake of the March 31 municipal elections where the CHP boasted gains in former strongholds of the AK Party.