Kılıçdaroğlu says İmamoğlu will again run for Istanbul mayorship

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Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu dismissed the possibility of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu taking over the party’s leadership by saying the latter will “continue his duty.”

“Mr. Ekrem is a successful mayor of ours. I would never hand over a municipality that has been taken by the votes of Istanbul residents to the (ruling Justice and Development Party) AKP. I would never accept this. Of course, Mr. Ekrem will continue his duty,” Kılıçdaroğlu told TELE1 on June 22.

“I have announced my thought. The discussion is over. Ekrem İmamoğlu will also win the upcoming elections,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, pointing to the municipality elections scheduled for March 2024.

“We will be successful at the local elections. The AKP is a party that is constantly losing votes. There is no big failure (on the part of the CHP). We have managed to win parliamentary seats in places where we were not able to before for a very long time. The party (CHP) has worked and reached a point. We will win other municipalities as well. I do not want anyone to consume the party’s energy with unnecessary discussions.”

Kılıçdaroğlu made the comments in response to a question asking him about İmamoğlu’s demand for “change” within the party, in the face of the CHP’s election loss. İmamoğlu previously said that change is inevitable and they cannot expect different outcomes with the same methods.

Kılıçdaroğlu said that although they will pave the way for “change” and the party will “renew” itself, he did not give any hint of having an intention to resign from the leadership. “The Republican People’s Party has to renew itself. We are doing this. If we don’t do this, the party would no longer be a party. You would hold your convention and candidates (for leadership) would be nominated. Criticism needs to be within party discipline. It is the duty of party executives to take a lesson from every criticism,” he said.

The CHP is expected to hold its general convention later this year, with no yet any signal as to whether Kılıçdaroğlu will run for leadership or not at the convention.

The majority of the CHP’s Central Executive Board (MYK) members resigned after the election, with Kılıçdaroğlu appointing new names for the posts. However, the new names showed no sign of change, on the contrary increasing Kılıçdaroğlu’s power within the party. He also dismissed his all advisors.

Kılıçdaroğlu has been the leader of the CHP since 2010.