CHP refers members who consumed alcohol at Gallipoli ‘justice congress’ to disciplinary board

ANKARA

Three main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) members have been referred to the party’s disciplinary committee after drinking alcohol during the “justice congress” in August at the historic site of the Battle of Gallipoli in the western province of Çanakkale. 

Following an investigation, the party’s disciplinary committee will decide whether to expel the three, including CHP Istanbul Bağcılar district head Murat Sönmez and two members from the party’s Şişli district branch. 

CHP spokesperson Bülent Tezcan had previously stated that the expulsion process of the three names had already begun. 

In a written statement on Aug. 27, Tezcan stated that the party had previously published a list of 12 rules for congress attendees staying at the Eceabat Kocadere campsite, underlining the historic significance of the location. 

On Sept. 13, upon the instructions of CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the party’s Istanbul administrative board held a meeting regarding the incident and ruled for the three party members to be referred to the disciplinary board with a demand of “precautionary certain expulsion.”

The congress brought together more than 700 speakers in eight main panels on justice in courts, daily life, education, religion, media, elections, and the economy. It started on Aug. 26 and ended on Aug. 29. 

It came after a huge march by the party earlier in the summer from the capital Ankara to Istanbul, initiated after CHP Istanbul deputy Enis Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years in prison on June 14 on charges of providing daily Cumhuriyet with video footage purporting to show weapons-loaded National Intelligence Agency (MİT) trucks heading to Syria.