Accused of ‘insulting’ President Erdoğan, former CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu attends hearing

Duvar English

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the previous leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), on Nov. 22 attended the first hearing of the lawsuit filed against him for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

CHP’s current leader Özgür Özel, Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, Homeland Party leader and former CHP senior Muharrem İnce, deputy and former HDP leader Mithat Sancar, Victory Party leader Ümit Özdağ also attended the hearing to support Kılıçdaroğlu. 

The lawsuit concerns Kılıçdaroğlu’s 2014-dated remarks calling Erdoğan “the head of thieves.” He is facing a political ban and an 11-year prison sentence.

The court previously issued a "forced appearance" order for Kılıçdaroğlu.

In front of the courthouse was like a rally area following Kılıçdaroğlu’s call to see solidarity, BBC Turkish reported.

CHP Group Deputy Chair Gökhan Günaydın threw support behind Kılıçdaroğlu and said, “We stand by our chair as one.”

“I am here not to defend myself for a crime I have committed, but to record the crimes committed, to ask for an account of them and to make a note in history,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in his testimony.

“Fortunately for me, I did not appear before the court on the charge of 'bribery' or 'treason'. I appeared before you, Your Honor, because I called a thief a ‘thief',” he said. 

At one point, Kılıçdaroğlu reproached his former ally, and former İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener.

“In the presidential elections, those we knew as nationalists and patriots who said 'I entrust Kılıçdaroğlu to my family' as a will turned out to be collaborators (with the government), I made a mistake believing them, yes I am wrong. I could not have guessed that they could be so bad,” he said. 

Prior to the 2023 May presidential elections, Akşener on March 3 publicly rejected then-CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s presidential candidacy despite other parties in the opposition alliance, Table of Six, agreeing upon him, saying his candidacy was being imposed on the İYİ Party.

One day later, Akşener said she was supporting CHP’s Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and CHP’s Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş as candidates amid polls indicating they could perform better against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. She later returned to the alliance after the leaders agreed upon the vice presidencies of İmamoğlu and Yavaş.

Later, some argued that Akşener’s temporary departure from the alliance might be a factor in Kılıçdaroğlu’s defeat against Erdoğan as the alliance was not seen as united.

Kılıçdaroğlu took office as the 7th CHP leader in 2010 and led the main opposition party for 13 years until he lost to his rival Özgür Özel at the party congress in 2023.

This defeat came after he lost the presidential race to Erdoğan in the same year.