The power struggle in the Turkish opposition’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) officially took off this week as Istanbul’s ambitious Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu openly challenged party Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and fueled the rumors that he’s gearing up to run in upcoming intra-party elections.
“The people want the leader and administration in CHP to change,” Imamoğlu wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening, all but reiterating his call for Kılıçdaroğlu to step down.
“The people want this change to be on the axis of generation and vision; they expect a democratic, service-oriented opposition structure, rhetoric and attitude,” he said.
The CHP leader conceded a presidential win to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a historic May 28 runoff, while the opposition’s six-party Nation Alliance lost a parliamentary majority to the People’s Alliance, led by Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) with three other parties. The defeat was largely attributed to Kılıçdaroğlu’s lack of powerful rhetoric and “unsuccessful strategies.” It sparked an outcry among opposition supporters demanding accountability.
The mayor, who has been not-so-covertly working to oust Kılıçdaroğlu since then, was citing 1 million clicks and nearly 100,000 comments and suggestions on a website he launched earlier this month advertising his “manifesto for change.”
His movement has gathered friction since the runoff, throwing a rift in Türkiye’s biggest opposition party between Kılıçdaroğlu’s cadre and Imamoğlu supporters. In fact, a leaked video last week showed Imamoğlu organizing a secret meeting to discuss ways to replace Kılıçdaroğlu, confirming rumors that the mayor has been mobilizing for a potential coup.
The CHP leader, however, had a mild response as he labeled the video “unethical” but ruled out targeting Imamoğlu with disciplinary action, something he has generously wielded against other various dissidents at the CHP. As recent as Wednesday, hours before Imamoğlu’s tweet, the CHP sacked Tanju Özcan, the long-controversial mayor of Bolu, over his increasingly vocal criticism of Kılıçdaroğlu.
The 74-year-old former bureaucrat has been resolute in keeping his seat despite it all. He suspended numerous heads of the party’s local branches across Türkiye known for their support of Imamoğlu. Throughout this week, he assembled his deputies for back-to-back meetings and was said to have banned any talk of the intra-party crisis before the public, threatening to “part ways with anyone who fails to comply.”
In a move attributed to him, all members of his central executive committee walked out in early June. He imposed a ban on Gökhan Günaydın, the party’s parliamentary group deputy chair and a close confidant of Imamoğlu on attendance at the party’s central executive committee. Elsewhere, he has cut off funding to Halk TV, a pro-CHP TV station that now backs the advocates of the “change” campaign.
Still, dissidents retain a majority in the CHP’s party assembly, threatening Kılıçdaroğlu’s iron-fisted rule of the party since 2010, when he replaced Deniz Baykal, a leader who adhered to a more orthodox party policy.
Kılıçdaroğlu has conceded that he was “not a fan” of the top CHP seat and could step down “if a candidate with a clean sheet” emerges – a pointed remark toward Imamoğlu who is tangled in several lawsuits on corruption and insult – but supporters of a change in the powerful party assembly have reached 31, a critical threshold for Kılıçdaroğlu that may pave the way for the “extraordinary congress” Imamoğlu talked about in the leaked video.
Imamoğlu’s moves could also prove pivotal for his career as mayor of Türkiye’s most populated city since he faces reelection in local polls scheduled for March 2024.
The Nation Alliance was the driving force behind Imamoğlu’s campaign in the 2019 elections when he ended AK Party’s reign with a landmark victory. While it’s unclear whether the CHP would nominate him again, Imamoğlu’s ongoing lawsuit may thwart his potential second run for Istanbul’s top office before that.
Furthermore, the disarray across the Nation Alliance, particularly the second-biggest Good Party’s (IP) fallout with the CHP, could spell another major defeat if they fail to recoup in time.
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