CHP leader says he wants Ankara, Istanbul mayors to continue duties

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Nov. 6 said he wants the Ankara and Istanbul mayors of the party to continue their duties in the face of a presidential election.

“I want our mayors to continue their duties,” Kılıçdaroğlu told Karar TV.

If the opposition party loses the mayor’s seat to the People’s Alliance, the post will go under the control of the ruling party because they have the majority in the municipal council, he told Karar TV.

“In that context, I have question marks in my mind. First, they should gain the trust of the city they live in. Let them gain the trust of Turkey afterwards. They have a time frame ahead of them. They can work in that time frame, gain experience and show themselves. I want them to continue their duties within that framework,” he added.

He was elaborating on rumors that Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş would run for the next presidential elections.

Stating that it is too early to announce the opposition’s presidential candidate, Kılıçdaroğlu said, “There is an opinion among the [opposition] leaders that the presidential candidacy is used to cover up the bad course. We should tell the nation how to solve the bad course in the economy. This is our general opinion.”

Asked if there is a problem among the components of the Nation’s Alliance, Kılıçdaroğlu refuted such claims and said their common goal is to bring democracy to Turkey.

“Is there a problem among us? As far as I can see there is no problem. Well, each of us is a separate party, but the important thing is, will we bring democracy to this country? We will bring it. In the last example, we said no, the İYİ Party said yes, what did we do, did we have a fight? No,” he said referring to a parliamentary vote for motion on a cross-border operation into Iraq and Syria which the CHP voted against while İYİ (Good) Party voted in favor of.