Kılıçdaroğlu rules out candidacy at CHP convention

ANKARA

Former main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu announced on April 3 that he will not be a candidate in the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) extraordinary convention set for April 6.

The decision, shared in a post on X, comes as the CHP braces for a gathering aimed at thwarting what party officials describe as an attempt to impose a trustee over the organization.

Kılıçdaroğlu, who led the CHP for over a decade, thanked those who had gathered signatures for his potential candidacy.

He said he declined to run in order “not to drive the CHP into internal conflicts and not to draw attention to areas other than the area of struggle.”

“We came from a tradition that considered it our duty to stand in the sun so that we would have a shadow and our nation would not fear any threat,” Kılıçdaroğlu wrote. “Greetings to those who dare to stand in the sun.”

Some reports in local media said Kılıçdaroğlu may still endorse another candidate ahead of the convention.

Current CHP leader Özgür Özel is seeking reelection at the upcoming gathering. He succeeded Kılıçdaroğlu in 2023 after his defeat to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan earlier that year.

The extraordinary convention follows investigations launched by prosecutors in Ankara and Istanbul into alleged irregularities surrounding the party's most recent convention.

Ankara prosecutors are investigating claims of vote-buying during the CHP’s 38th ordinary convention held on Nov. 4-5, 2023, while prosecutors in Istanbul are probing allegations of vote-rigging in provincial elections held prior to the event.

“They want to appoint a trustee to [Mustafa Kemal] Atatürk’s party,” Özel said during an address on March 21. “We will announce to all of Türkiye that we have prevented trustee attempts by taking the party to an extraordinary convention.”

The legal probes coincide with mass protests across the country stirred by the arrest of CHP's Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu last month on corruption charges.