CHP expels dissident Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan from party
Turkish main opposition CHP has expelled Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan from the party. This month, Özcan marched from Bolu to Ankara to CHP headquarters demanding a change of party leadership. Özcan said he will take the issue with expulsion to the judiciary.
Duvar English
Main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) High Disciplinary Board on July 26 expelled Bolu Mayor Tanjur Özcan from the party.
The move came after Özcan marched to the CHP headquarters in the capital Ankara this month, which he had started from Bolu with the demand that CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu resign.
After his expulsion, Özcan said he will fight to stay within the party and that the CHP is “Atatürk's party, not Mr. Kemal's party.”
“Our friends at the High Disciplinary Board yielded to Kılıçdaroğlu's pressure. They did not make legal decisions, it’s political. I will go to court.,” Özcan told online news outlet T24.
Last year in September, CHP High Disciplinary Board terminated the membership of Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan for one year.
Özcan is known for his harsh criticism against CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and raised his tone especially after the latter lost the presidential election to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the second round of the race on May 28.
He is also known for his anti-refugee discourse, introducing a series of xenophobic measures in the province.