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His visits have all the undertones of a political comeback as Kılıçdaroğlu occasionally breaks his post-retirement silence in thinly veiled barbs at the party’s new chair, Özgür Özel.
More importantly, his activities come prior to a September convention of Türkiye’s oldest party that will decide upon a new charter. Unconfirmed reports say that Kılıçdaroğlu loyalists in the party will attempt to include an election in the convention and try to oust Özel, who was only elected last November. Yet, Özel, who boasts of taking the CHP to the top spot in the March 31 municipal elections for the first time in years, is unlikely to succumb to Kılıçdaroğlu’s maneuvers, political pundits say.
A new election within the party will require signatures of more than 50% of the delegates. The Guardian newspaper reported recently that Kılıçdaroğlu already enjoys major support among party’s stalwarts and may court those disillusioned with Özel after endorsing him at first to oust the former.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who set up an office in the capital Ankara briefly after he left the chairmanship, shied away from open criticism of Özel, but a normalization attempt between the CHP and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) apparently disturbed him.
Kılıçdaroğlu boasted that he would not shake hands with “those in the Palace” about the Turkish Presidential Complex after Özel met Erdoğan four times after municipal elections, including two formal meetings. Özel, who maintained his respect for the former chair and never engaged in a public spat with his predecessor, responded that they were now “a ruling party in the eye of the public” and would act accordingly.
“Mr. Kemal has never been the leader of Türkiye’s number one party,” Özel said in recent comments upon Kılıçdaroğlu’s criticism of “normalization” with the government.
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