Turkey’s opposition sacks Kilicdaroglu, appoint new leader

05-11-2023
Rudaw
A+ A-
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s main opposition party on Sunday voted to sack veteran leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu and replaced him with an unproven former pharmacist, months after its alliance was bitterly defeated in the elections by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

The secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), the largest opposition party and oldest political force in Turkey, replaced Kilicdaroglu with Ozgur Ozel, a relatively unknown member of the party, after the latter won in the party’s congress by 812 to the former’s 536 votes. 

Turkey held presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14. Erdogan’s alliance, led by his Justice and Development Party (AKP), won a majority of seats in the legislature, but no presidential candidate passed the mandatory 50% mark and a run-off vote was held on May 28 when Erdogan took 52.14 percent of the votes, while Kilicdaroglu received only 47.86 percent. 

Since losing the vote, Kilicdaroglu has received strong criticism from within the ranks of his own party, blaming him for the string of losses in elections. 

Ozel speaks German and English and was the deputy parliamentary group chairman of CHP. A pharmacist, he became the head of Turkey’s pharmacists association and was elected to parliament in 2011. 

“Hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, we are setting out for municipal elections victory … may our road be open,” Ozel said following his victory, with Turkey’s municipal elections set for March. 
 

Comments

Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.

To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.

We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.

Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.

Post a comment

Required
Required
 

The Latest

Dersim co-Mayors Birsen Orhan (left) and Cevdet Konak (right) speaking in a video message on November 20, 2024. Photo: Screengrab/Birsen Orhan, X

Turkish court sentences pro-Kurdish mayor to prison time

A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced the pro-Kurdish mayor of Dersim to over six years in prison on charges of belonging to a “terrorist organization.” The mayor claims this is part of preparations to appoint a trustee in the Kurdish city.