Members of the main opposition’s divided Republican People’s Party (CHP) are “closing ranks” following a call from the party’s ex-leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who on Friday stood trial for his “slanderous” allegations against the Turkish government.
The CHP’s current chair, Özgür Özel, as well as Istanbul and Ankara Mayors Ekrem Imamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, were among the prominent figures showing up for the hearing at the Ankara courthouse in solidarity with their former leader.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who is facing a prison sentence of up to 11 years and eight months, as well as a political ban, announced in a video message on Monday he would attend the hearing and urged his supporters to join him.
Kılıçdaroğlu is being sued due to a criminal complaint by Erdoğan for his accusations toward then-Prime Minister Erdoğan in the Dec. 17-25, 2013 operations.
Since then, investigations have revealed the said operation was a plot led by the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ) to topple the government, the group’s first such attempt before its second, bloodier attempt was also foiled in July 2016.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who held the CHP’s reins from 2010 to his ouster in 2023 months after he lost his final presidential election against Erdoğan, has insisted on blaming the president for the FETÖ bid, similar to the many accusations he hurls against him and other politicians daily.
Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç on Thursday said Kılıçdaroğlu’s case was a “lesson for all politicians.”
“If politicians follow his lead, they are bound to end up like the former chair,” Tunç told reporters, adding that Kılıçdaroğlu “made it to the end of his political life with insults.”
If convicted, Kılıçdaroğlu would also receive a major blow to his ambitious plans for a political comeback, notably as CHP chair again.
Media reports have said Kılıçdaroğlu is preparing to boost his popularity within the CHP by using Friday’s trial.
The former opposition chief has been determined to regain lost favor in modern Türkiye’s oldest party and subsequently return to the political fold.
The CHP has been grappling with an internal rift between supporters of Özel, those still loyal to Kılıçdaroğlu, and the party’s popular mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoğlu, since losing last year’s general elections.
The division has only been exacerbated by Özel’s move to “normalize” ties with Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and reformist policies meant to sideline his dissidents.
Despite a seeming unity, pro-Kılıçdaroğlu members have tried to drum up more support for an intraparty election during two party conventions in the past two months. The said lawmakers cite feeling “marginalized” by Özel’s administration.
Kılıçdaroğlu insists he doesn’t have any personal ambitions but admits there is a “need for change” in the secularist CHP’s regulations.
The CHP, encouraged by gains in the March 31 local elections, wants to earn the support of conventional voters and a swinging electorate as Özel pushes for a snap general election next year.