Reinstated main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said on May 27 that the Republican People’s Party would hold a new convention only after a court ruling annulling the party’s 2023 vote becomes final, deepening a leadership dispute with rival Özgür Özel.
“We will hold a congress, friends. A congress will be held after the injunction is lifted, there is no problem,” Kılıçdaroğlu told reporters in Ankara, referring to the expected confirmation of the lower court ruling by Türkiye’s appeals courts.
The latest move marks a new page in the struggle for control of the CHP following last week’s court ruling overturning the party’s 2023 leadership election. The decision removed Özel from the chairmanship and restored Kılıçdaroğlu.
Özel has continued to present himself as the CHP’s elected leader amid mounting internal tensions and called for some 2 million CHP members to choose the next chairman directly. Kılıçdaroğlu rejected the proposal, saying party rules required leadership elections to be conducted through a congress process.
“The method of electing the chairman is clear. You cannot bypass the party congress,” he said. “Everything must be done within the legal framework.”
Kılıçdaroğlu also defended the court ruling and said the judiciary had determined that the previous congress process had been tainted by irregularities.
“The judiciary says, ‘You cannot buy a convention with money.’ The CHP must regain its founding moral codes,” he said.
Addressing recent clashes and police intervention at CHP headquarters, Kılıçdaroğlu criticized efforts to restrict access to the building.
“The doors of the CHP headquarters have never been closed in its history,” he said. “That place is not anyone’s private property, it belongs to the people.”
Despite intensifying tensions, Kılıçdaroğlu signaled that party authorities would continue functioning under his leadership. “In the coming period, we will convene the Party Council and continue on our way,” he said.
Asked whether he would run again at a future convention, Kılıçdaroğlu declined to give a direct answer.
On May 26, Kılıçdaroğlu applied to Türkiye’s parliament to invalidate the election of Özel as parliamentary leader of the CHP.
Özel had been elected group chair during an emergency meeting held after the court decision on the 2023 convention.
Reports said 96 CHP lawmakers participated in the vote, with 95 backing Özel and one ballot declared invalid. Fifteen absent lawmakers also reportedly conveyed support, bringing total backing for Özel to 110 deputies.
The court ruling came one day after Kılıçdaroğlu released a video message calling on the CHP to “purify itself,” intensifying divisions within the party over the legal proceedings. He is listed as a victim in the lawsuit concerning the convention.
