CHP leader to skip evening reception on Republic Day

ANKARA

DHA Photo

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will skip an official evening ceremony marking Oct. 29 Republic Day at the presidential palace in Çankaya in favor of attending an event in Istanbul’s Kadıköy Square.

Kılıçdaroğlu will attend a morning ceremony at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of republican founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Ankara, before attending a reception hosted by President Abdullah Gül to mark the day at Çankaya Palace.

The CHP leader, however, will depart before the evening reception at the palace, in time to attend the event in Kadıköy.

For the first time this year, the venue for celebrations will be Çankaya Palace, unlike previous years in which Parliament also hosted celebrations on Republic Day.

On the evening of Oct. 29, Gül and his spouse, Hayrünnisa Gül, will host a reception to which guests are invited along with their spouses. The reception could mark the first time Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and senior military commanders come to the event with their spouses. Past commanders have refused to come due to the headscarved wives of senior government figures.