TURKEY tr-politics
Sarıgül cancels new party plans to support Turkish main opposition
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News | 6/22/2010 12:00:00 AM |
An Istanbul political figure touted as a new hope for the Turkish center-left has abandoned his plans to establish a new political party and thrown his support behind the main opposition.
An Istanbul political figure touted as a new hope for the Turkish center-left has abandoned his plans to establish a new political party and thrown his support behind the main opposition.
“Turkey is going through critical times and we have a historic responsibility to take a new step,” Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül said Tuesday at a press conference in Istanbul, announcing that plans to establish a new political party under the name Turkey’s Change Movement, or TDH, have been canceled.
Sarıgül, who had been working to set up the new party for more than a year, said members of the movement would support the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, instead.
According to the Şişli mayor, the CHP under new leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has “created a new hope for citizens who want a happy Turkey.”
“We have listened to the public demand,” Sarıgül said. “Our citizens have given a chance for change in the CHP, and we believe that the wind of change in Turkish politics with Kılıçdaroğlu deserves a chance.”
Sarıgül said the decision was made without any bargaining and was not demanded by the CHP leadership.
“I want to thank all my colleagues in the TDH for their amazing work so far. And I want to stress that some of them do not agree with the decision we’ve made and think that we should have continued,” he said. “But I believe people will understand that the historic decision we made today was a necessity for the country.”
Sarıgül did not say if he would return to the CHP after being expelled by former party leader Deniz Baykal, who resigned May 10.
Kılıçdaroğlu has been trying to establish ties with politicians who parted ways with the CHP during the Baykal era, citing the lack of democracy in the party. Some prominent figures have already returned to the party’s ranks and many others are expected to rejoin before the 2011 general elections.
Kılıçdaroğlu said Tuesday he was happy with Sarıgül’s decision. “The CHP is the only alternative to the current ruling party. I’m happy Sarıgül realized this fact and supported us,” he said, adding that the debates within the party should be left in the past as he called on everyone to join forces to “give hope to the people for the future.”
Sarıgül, a member of the CHP’s youth organization before 1980, was elected to Parliament in 1987 as a member of the Social Democratic People’s Party, or SHP. He was elected Şişli mayor in 1999 as a Democratic Left Party, or DSP, candidate before returning to the CHP in 2003 and winning the 2004 local elections with the party.
The process that led to his expulsion from the party started in January 2005, when Sarıgül decided to run against Baykal in a party congress that saw tension and brawls between the two men’s supporters. Baykal kept his post, getting 674 votes to Sarıgül’s 460, and the Şişli mayor was later expelled from the party by its disciplinary board for “creating a violent congress atmosphere.”
Sarıgül was nominated by the DSP in the latest local elections, in March 2009, and was re-elected as mayor for a third term, receiving 54.7 percent of the votes.