CHP head Kılıçdaroğlu urges women, young people to go into politics

ÇANAKKALE

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Aug. 27 called on women and young people to get more involved in politics, on the second day of the ongoing “justice congress” in the northwestern Turkish province of Çanakkale. 

“In the congress a special section and panel have been opened for our women. I have only one wish from you: Get more involved in politics,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, visiting the tent dedicated to women’s issues on the historic Gallipoli peninsula, where the congress is ongoing. 

Visiting the “International Socialist Youth Organizations” tent, the CHP urged young people to be more determined in the “struggle for society.” 

“Do not wait for someone else to open up space for you. Fight for yourself. Your struggle will be a struggle for this society. Your struggle will be a struggle for democracy,” Kılıçdaroğlu reportedly said during the visit. 

Early in the morning, the CHP leader participated in the 57th “Walk of Respect to the Regiment” to mark the Ottoman victory at Gallipoli during the First World War.  

“We want to live together in this country with justice and peace … We should give children a good future. That is the theme of the justice congress,” he said.

The CHP previously carried out a “justice march” from Ankara to Istanbul and a “justice rally” after its Istanbul deputy Enis Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years in prison on June 14 on charges of providing daily Cumhuriyet with the video purporting to show weapons-loaded National Intelligence Agency (MİT) trucks heading to Syria.

The congress is bringing together more than 700 speakers in eight main panels on justice in courts, daily life, education, religion, media, election, and the economy until Aug. 30. The first topic to be discussed at the congress was “justice in courts.”

Similar to the “justice march” and the “justice rally,” no political party flags or banners are allowed at the congress, with only Turkish flags allowed to be displayed.