CHP's Özel meets with Kılıçdaroğlu ahead of congress

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel held a meeting with his predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, in the capital Ankara on Sept. 1.

Özel was accompanied by CHP's Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş and the party's Ankara head Ümit Erkol during the talks.

The closed-door meeting was part of a series of consultations Özel has been conducting with former CHP leaders in the lead-up to a congress aimed at amending the party’s bylaws.

Prior to the Ankara meeting, Özel met with former chairs Altan Öymen, Hikmet Çetin and Murat Karayalçın in Istanbul on Aug. 26. CHP’s Istanbul leader Özgür Çelik was also present.

“We are extremely happy with the unity and solidarity in our party and the guidance of our esteemed party leaders," Özel told reporters at an event later that day.

The congress is set to commence symbolically on Sept. 4 in the central city of Sivas, commemorating the 105th anniversary of a 1919 congress that sought to unify delegates from the Ottoman Empire during the War of Independence.

Official proceedings will begin in Ankara on Sept. 6 and continue until Sept. 9.

The CHP leader also mentioned at an event on Aug. 27 that the party had been receiving input from nongovernmental organizations and the academic community since April 10 to finalize the new party charter.