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The Republican People’s Party (CHP) bought time for its leadership when an Ankara court adjourned a Sept. 15 hearing in the trial over main opposition’s shady intraparty election in November 2023. This Friday, the next hearing of the trial will be held in the Turkish capital and a verdict is likely this time.
A lawsuit launched by former delegates of the party accuses incumbent Chair Özgür Özel and his close associates of buying votes at the election where he ran against his predecessor Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Plaintiffs claim they and other voters were offered cash, jobs and even high-end smartphones in exchange of their votes.
The Özel administration denies allegations but they are also making preparations in case that the court sides with plaintiffs and rules Özel’s chairpersonship is null and void. In that case, Özel will be replaced with a court-appointed trustee and this very well may be someone from inside the party. Kılıçdaroğlu has reportedly stepped forward to take over the temporary post. Another court’s verdict in Istanbul that rendered the administrator of the CHP’s branch in the city may set a precedent for the Ankara court. In that case linked to the one in Ankara, party’s Istanbul chair, Özgür Çelik, was replaced with a trustee: Kılıçdaroğlu’s former vice chair, Gürsel Tekin.
Kılıçdaroğlu earlier called on the Özel administration to clear the suspicion about the November 2023 election but the party appears intent on an all-out offensive in its legal battle. Sabah newspaper reported on Sunday that the administration seeks ways to block legal proceedings. Özel reportedly ordered all lawmakers to stay in Ankara on the day of hearing and will convene party’s provincial branch heads in the capital as well, as they try to portray the legal battle as a resistance against what they claim politically-motivated charges.
If the court rejects plaintiffs’ plea for cancellation of the November 2023 election, Özel will score a big victory amid other legal woes his party faces, namely corruption investigations into a number of mayors of the party. Friday’s hearing may also be postponed once again and this will also give a respite for the administration.
Nevertheless, if the court rules for “absolute nullification” of the election or orders a temporary suspension order for party’s administration, the CHP will have more things to worry than the fate of mayors arrested for bribes and rampant corruption. An absolute nullification verdict will render all decisions made by Özel for the party’s future and inner workings. Thus, it will pave the way for the reinstatement of Kılıçdaroğlu as the party’s rightful chair.
The court can also rule for temporary suspension of the Özel administration and order the appointment of a delegation until the party holds its next election.
Sabah newspaper also reported that the Özel administration was quick to purge dissent within the party as more people raised their voice against vote-buying allegations and called on Özel to investigate them properly. The party already held a series of congresses for reshuffling provincial branches and expelled dissidents through the votes of delegates. The newspaper reported that another purge may follow if the court does not rule for absolute nullification of the Özel administration on Friday.
Nepotism allegations
The CHP is also under fire by its critics for alleged rampant nepotism in municipalities the party runs across the country. Though Özel repeatedly said he would personally intervene if relatives and friends of elected mayors and assembly members of municipalities are favored in employment, a report by the Sabah shows nepotism became commonplace in most municipalities.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, who was arrested last March on charges of corruption, is accused of hiring people close to his family, such as husband of his cousin who is employed in a subsidiary of the municipality. A niece of Imamoğlu’s wife was also employed in a municipal company while Imamoğlu’s three relatives were also hired at Beylikdüzü, an Istanbul district municipality once governed by Imamoğlu, according to the Sabah report.
Also in Istanbul, Ahmet Özer, another arrested CHP mayor, is accused of hiring his brother-in-law as a general coordinator at the Esenyurt municipality Özer governed. Özel’s two children, brother, a nephew and a cousin were also employed by the municipality’s different subsidiaries. In Istanbul’s Sarıyer district, Mayor Mustafa Oktay Aksu appointed his cousin as head of local municipal police.
Harun Arslan, mayor of Çan district in western Türkiye’s Çanakkale, hired his cousin to the board of a company run by the municipality.
Two children, the son-in-law and the two nephews of Bülent Tezcan, a CHP lawmaker for western province of Aydın, were hired by Aydın’s Kuşadası district municipality while Tezcan’s wife Süheyla Demir Tezcan was hired by the Çankaya district municipality in Ankara where she serves as an aide to the mayor.
