Main opposition CHP to name presidential candidate in coming months

Reuters

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) will name its presidential candidate for the next election in coming months, its leader said on Jan. 28 in what he called a move to counter a judicial crackdown on his party.

The next presidential and parliamentary elections are not scheduled until 2028, but the opposition has repeatedly called for an early vote after recent detentions and investigations into CHP-run municipalities.

"Today, ... by completing all the preparations ... in February, March and April, we are starting today to say that we are ready to (counter) this evil," Özgür Özel said in an address to CHP parliamentarians, alluding to the investigations.

Some 1.6 million CHP members will choose the party's presidential candidate in an internal vote, he added.

On Jan. 27, an Istanbul prosecutor launched another judicial investigation into the city's Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a CHP member, for allegedly trying to influence the judiciary after he criticized legal inquiries into opposition-run municipalities.

İmamoğlu, seen as a likely future presidential challenger to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accused Erdogan's government of using the judiciary as a political tool to pressure the opposition.

Özel said the investigations into İmamoğlu showed how Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) was afraid of him.

The government denies accusations of political interference in the cases and says the judiciary is independent.

Later on Tuesday, opposition television channel Halk TV said authorities had detained its journalists Barış Pehlivan and Seda Selek, as well as its Managing Director Serhan Asker, after the broadcast of a phone call with the expert witness in the case against İmamoğlu, who had publicly criticized the expert on Jan. 27.

Pehlivan held the call with the expert and Selek was the presenter of the programme where the call, which the Istanbul prosecutors' office said was recorded and shared illegally, was broadcast.

The pro-government daily Yeni Şafak had earlier published a story quoting the expert as well.

İmamoğlu said on X that the detentions were "embarrassing", while Özel called on CHP members in Istanbul to protest in front of the Halk TV offices.

Erdoğan, re-elected last year, is serving his last term as president permitted by the constitution, unless parliament calls an early election. He has ruled Turkey for more than 21 years, first as prime minister and then as president.

An early election needs the support of 360 MPs in the 600-seat parliament. AKP and its allies command 321 seats.

The AKP spokesperson recently said that a formula for a new term for Erdoğan was "on the party's agenda," hinting at a move to enact a constitutional amendment to make that possible.

A constitutional amendment could also be put to a referendum if 360 lawmakers endorsed it.