By admin
Copyright dawatmedia24
At the end of March 2024, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) achieved a major victory in the elections with nearly 38%, surpassing the Justice and Development Party (AKP) for the first time in almost twenty years. It also succeeded in winning the mayoral seats of most major municipalities, most notably Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, and others.
This unexpected achievement gave the party momentum to develop its goals and ambitions, as it began to strongly aim for victory in the presidential and parliamentary elections, driven by the difficult economic situation Turkey is going through due to the harsh reform program introduced by Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, with clear support from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
But unfortunately for the party, the presidential and parliamentary elections are not due until mid-2028. And as they say in Turkey, “24 hours in Turkish politics is a long time” — let alone several years.
The CHP realized that Erdoğan could correct many of his party’s mistakes and that the economic reform program would bear fruit, especially in terms of reducing inflation, interest rates, and unemployment — which is already happening.
Therefore, the party tried to push for early elections but failed, while the normalization efforts launched by Erdoğan, crowned by reciprocal visits to the AKP and CHP headquarters by Erdoğan and CHP leader Özgür Özel, also did not succeed.
But things took an unexpected turn when financial corruption scandals erupted early this year, implicating CHP mayors. The crisis peaked in March when Turkish security forces arrested Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and around a hundred others, including district mayors, on charges related to bribery, bid-rigging, and in some cases, terrorism.
The arrest of İmamoğlu and his colleagues was just the beginning, as more arrests followed with new confessions, opening the door to a draining internal crisis for the CHP.
The Bleeding of the CHP
What is noteworthy is that the cases against the CHP currently before the courts did not originate from the government. The lawsuits, witnesses, and evidence all came from within the party itself, as part of internal rivalries and attempts to strengthen one faction at the expense of another — particularly in corruption cases.
In the latest round of internal conflict, an Istanbul court ruled that the party congress held on October 8, 2023, was invalid, annulling it entirely. The congress was meant to elect the Istanbul provincial chair and executive council members. The court said delegates’ votes had been corrupted by promises of money, phones, tablets, and jobs in exchange for support.
The ruling led to the dismissal of Istanbul party chair Özgür Çelik and the appointment of a temporary committee headed by Gürsel Tekin.
Who Is the New Trustee?
The court’s decision to appoint Gürsel Tekin as interim trustee of the Istanbul branch of the CHP was met with strong rejection and outrage from party leader Özgür Özel.
Yet Tekin is no stranger to the party. He is a heavyweight leader with long experience. He rose through the ranks to become Istanbul provincial chair in 2007, later serving as CHP Secretary-General from 2014 to 2016, and was a member of parliament from 2011 to 2023.
However, he resigned from the party in November 2023 after Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was ousted as leader and replaced by Özgür Özel, as Tekin was known to be close to Kılıçdaroğlu.
This closeness explains the attempt to prevent him from entering the party building in Istanbul to carry out his duties under the court order, leading to crowds of CHP supporters clashing with police in front of the building to stop the ruling from being enforced.
Tekin is seen as belonging to the Kılıçdaroğlu wing, ousted in controversial internal elections that courts are still reviewing. His return as trustee of the Istanbul branch — the party’s most important and powerful branch nationwide — comes at a sensitive time, and is unacceptable to the Özel–İmamoğlu faction.
The Istanbul branch has been a stronghold for İmamoğlu, who carefully engineered its leadership and district mayors. But all that was upended with Tekin’s return, backed by his deep experience that could allow him to reorganize the party in ways unfavorable to İmamoğlu, who remains in prison.
Repeating Mistakes
In dealing with the current crisis, party leader Özgür Özel has repeated past mistakes without learning from them.
When İmamoğlu was arrested in March, Özel turned to street protests to pressure the government. These demonstrations escalated into violent clashes, especially after radical leftist groups joined in.
The clashes resulted in hundreds of arrests — some still in jail — and economic losses estimated in the billions of dollars, with foreign reserves dropping before recovering recently.
But the government did not back down; instead, it expanded the scope of arrests, based on confessions made by detainees.
Recently, Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, Akın Gürlek, announced preparations for an indictment in what he described as the biggest case in the Turkish Republic’s 100-year history.
Thus, Özel’s strategy of street pressure failed in dealing with a judicial case that should have been fought through legal means, not violent protests that hurt the economy and ordinary citizens. Meanwhile, detainees’ voluntary confessions, in hopes of reduced sentences, convinced many apolitical citizens that the charges against İmamoğlu and his colleagues deserved trial.
Yet Özel is once again turning to street mobilization to oppose the court’s appointment of a trustee in Istanbul, pushing his supporters to clash with police and refusing to implement court rulings. He even told the Financial Times:
“We can respond to the government in different ways. Among them are very peaceful and effective civil disobedience actions that could ‘paralyze life’ in Turkey.”
But it is unclear how Özel expects positive results from the same tactics that already failed, especially when his base is no longer as enthusiastic as during İmamoğlu’s arrest.
What he should be doing now is working to stop the daily bleeding of the party as resignations of key figures continue.
Ongoing Bleeding
The court’s annulment of the Istanbul branch congress may pave the way for annulling the November 2023 general party congress as well. This could mean the removal of Özgür Özel from leadership and possibly the return of Kılıçdaroğlu — or the appointment of a trustee over the whole party.
But even beyond that scenario, the biggest loss is the steady bleeding of the party’s cadre, as resignations continue day after day.
In August, the AKP announced at its annual congress that several CHP mayors had joined its ranks, most notably Özlem Çerçioğlu, mayor of Aydın — effectively transferring control of the municipality to the ruling party.
Just days ago, Özlem Ural Gürzel, deputy mayor of Beykoz (a district of Istanbul), resigned from the CHP. Reports suggest she may join the AKP as well, meaning the ruling party could take control of that municipality too, since Gürzel has been running it after Mayor Alaattin Köseler was arrested in the corruption investigations.
So far, Özel and his team have taken no preventive measures against this steady bleeding, even though the loss is twofold: not only do key figures leave, but they join the ruling party, taking with them the offices to which citizens had elected them under the CHP banner.
The CHP needs a prescription for recovery from the chaos caused by corruption scandals and internal rivalries. But it is unlikely that current leader Özgür Özel can succeed in this task, since he has become part of the crisis himself.
This means the party is in dire need of change — in leadership, in ideas, and in priorities.
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