CHP, Felicity Party leaders meet amid alliance discussions

ANKARA

Turkey’s conservative Felicity Party (SP) leader Temel Karamollaoğlu has paid a courtesy call to main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) to discuss upcoming legal changes in election and political party laws amid discussions on alliances for next year’s presidential race.

“We have come here to present the CHP with our views on upcoming legislation,” Karamollaoğlu said on Jan. 4, speaking to journalists an hour and twenty minutes after meeting with CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

The constitutional amendment approved by the April 2017 referendum obliged current legislation to implement an 18-article amendment within six months. However, government efforts are still ongoing.

“Legislative changes should have been implemented in the six months following the constitutional referendum. It is quite belated. This delay has provided us with an opportunity, in a sense,” he said.

Karamollaoğlu said he had conveyed a booklet on the SP’s views on legislative harmonization to Kılıçdaroğlu.

“We found this type of visit highly valuable and beneficial for the quality of our democracy in terms of expressing different opinions to the other side and discussing problems,” Kılıçdaroğlu said. The CHP leader had visited the SP in May 2017, in a bid to co-ordinate political factions that opposed the constitutional amendment.

The meeting comes at a time when Turkish politicians are discussing pre-election inter-party alliances ahead of next year’s polls.

Abdullah Gül’s candidacy

Karamollaoğlu also responded to rumors that former President and co-founder of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Abdullah Gül would stand as a presidential nominee in the upcoming 2019 elections as SP’s candidate.

“We will present a candidate, and our priority is someone within our party,” Karamollaoğlu said.

“We will support the candidate most likely to help SP win,” he added.

Since its foundation in 2001, the SP has never once passed the ten-percent election threshold required for political parties to enter parliament.