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The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) weathered infighting in the past, but this time, the outlook is quite dire. If the Ankara court decides that the party’s 2023 election, which brought current Chairperson Özgür Özel to power, was indeed a venue of corruption and vote-buying, the divide in the party will likely widen.
For political pundits, it is a secret battle between Özel and his predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost to Özel in the November 2023 vote. Kılıçdaroğlu has signalled that he was ready to helm the party as a trustee if the court decides the vote two years ago is null and void. The Özel administration believes the trial is a plot by the government to damage the party, while supporters of Kılıçdaroğlu say Özel should acquit himself before the court amid reports that he may defy any court order as he did after a court suspended the party’s Istanbul branch administration over similar allegations of vote-buying. Though Kılıçdaroğlu maintains his silence, the appointment of Gürsel Tekin, a former vice chair during his tenure as director of CHP, as the Istanbul branch’s trustee, fuels rumors that this is indeed an intraparty battle between “old school” CHP and a new generation led by Özel.
The trial in Ankara was the result of a lawsuit by the former mayor of the southern province of Hatay and some CHP delegates, all expelled from the party or quit, claiming that a close circle of Özel offered cash and other incentives to delegates to vote for him. The first hearing was held on April 17. Monday’s hearing will also assess the plea by plaintiffs for cancellation of an extraordinary congress of the party in April 2025, where Özel was reelected.
For plaintiffs, it is simply an intraparty matter rather than an alleged conspiracy to bring down CHP to its knees as supporters of the party claim. Former Hatay Mayor Lütfü Savaş told the Sabah newspaper on Sunday that Özel was long branded as a “shady” chair due to claims of irregularities in the 2023 election. “I filed the lawsuit so that everything will be brought to the fore and the party would be acquitted of any wrongdoing. I applied to the law like a patient would apply to a doctor. If the court rules there was no wrongdoing, I’d be pleased. I’d be pleased too if the court rules otherwise because our party would eventually be cleared of those involved in wrongdoing,” Savaş said. “This is a case of CHP, people of CHP. Nobody else should be involved and we should wait and see how justice will prevail,” he said.
Yılmaz Özkanat, a CHP delegate and another plaintiff, said he has been a member of CHP for years and filed the lawsuit so that the dispute over the 2023 election would end. “Nobody advised or encouraged me to file the lawsuit,” he told Sabah. Hatip Karaaslan, another former delegate who prides himself on being a longtime CHP member, said the claims of irregularities actually first surfaced in the election of the party’s Istanbul branch two years ago. “Delegates started voicing claims of vote-buying and I witnessed it firsthand. I was offered cash, too,” Karaaslan said. He blamed former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, an influential figure in the party who is accused of secretly running CHP by his dissidents, for overshadowing the intraparty election. “He used it for advancing his own political career,” Karaaslan told Sabah. “We have been engaged in infighting for months and tried to reach out to the party’s headquarters so that they would come clean about the election. We failed. We have seen they bought people’s will. Eventually, I filed this lawsuit against the plans of Imamoğlu and his associates to finish CHP,” he added.
In an interim ruling in the first hearing, the judge ordered the Çankaya District Election Board No. 4 to submit the attendance list and official certification for the 21st Extraordinary Congress, where the election took place and requested copies of appeals and annulment decisions filed with the Supreme Election Council (YSK).
The second hearing of the case was held on May 26. The court ordered the CHP headquarters to submit the party’s bylaws as of Nov. 4-5, 2023.
On June 3, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office completed its investigation under Article 112 of the Political Parties Law and other relevant legislation, preparing an indictment regarding the election. The indictment listed former CHP Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as a victim and Savaş as a complainant.
Twelve suspects, including Imamoğlu, Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay and CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik, face charges of “rigging a vote” in connection with allegations that votes were bought during the congress. Prosecutors are seeking prison terms of one to three years. The Ankara 26th Criminal Court of First Instance accepted the indictment.
At the June 30 third hearing of the congress annulment lawsuit at Ankara’s 42nd Civil Court of First Instance, the presiding judge noted that the file from the criminal case had reached the court.
The plaintiff’s lawyer argued that the congress was null and void because Imamoğlu, who chaired the session, failed to act impartially. The lawyer said this was confirmed by the prosecutor’s indictment and the criminal court’s reasoning. He argued that Congress violated constitutional provisions, public order and the minimum requirements of democracy.
The defense countered that courts do not have jurisdiction to review internal elections of political parties under YSK decisions and Court of Cassation precedents.
The court decided to wait for the outcome of an objection to a jurisdiction ruling in the criminal case and adjourned the hearing to Sept. 8.
CHP lawyers requested a postponement, citing that Sept. 4-9 marks the party’s founding week. The court granted the request and rescheduled the hearing for Sept. 15.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office prepared an indictment against 10 suspects, including Özgür Çelik, suspended Beyoğlu Mayor Inan Güney and former Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, for “vote rigging” under Article 112 of the Political Parties Law. The Istanbul 72nd Criminal Court of First Instance accepted the indictment.
Separately, the Istanbul 45th Civil Court of First Instance suspended from duty the CHP Istanbul chair, executive board and disciplinary board members elected in the Oct. 8, 2023, provincial congress.
In response, the Ankara 42nd Civil Court requested copies of the Istanbul court files, both civil and criminal. Ahead of the fifth hearing, the criminal file and the Istanbul case files were added to the lawsuit.
Tensions in Istanbul
What happened in Istanbul after the appointment of Tekin as trustee to the CHP’s provincial branch may repeat on Monday if the court issues a ruling. Hours before Tekin arrived at the party’s offices in Türkiye’s most populated city, CHP supporters flocked to the venue to confront riot police who surrounded the building against a potential clash between supporters of Tekin and supporters of the Özel administration.
Tekin tried to reason with the Özel administration and claimed he stepped in solely to salvage the image of the party. In line with CHP’s tradition of portraying internal feuds as “democracy,” Tekin initially dismissed the strong opposition to his appointment as a reflection of the will of the people. Yet, he found himself more at the receiving end of harsh criticism day by day. A smearing campaign on social media painted him as a “tool” for what CHP supporters called a government conspiracy against the party. Then, pro-CHP journalists started digging up his past and pointed out his failures as CHP vice-chair under Kılıçdaroğlu. Some openly named him a stooge for Kılıçdaroğlu. Özel was initially kinder toward Tekin, finding it sufficient to expel him from the party.
Nevertheless, he stepped up anti-Tekin rhetoric throughout the week. “He made people boo at me,” Tekin told reporters on Sunday, referring to a recent rally by Özel where he slammed Tekin for taking over the Istanbul branch and claimed Tekin “fled” when he found out that he would visit the Istanbul branch. “I won’t seek talks with him any longer. It is a shame that he made people boo at me and my colleagues here. For the past 15 years, we have worked together in CHP. Now, we are facing a campaign to isolate me. So-called intellectuals (from CHP) try to insult me. I wonder what happened to them. This fascist mindset (in CHP) kept AK Party in power,” Tekin said.
He said it was his duty to preserve the legacy of the CHP and they were doing “an honorable task.” He kept addressing Özel as “Mr. Chair” during his remarks to reporters, but said they had a legitimate job and the Özel administration should let them do their job as trustees.
