Kılıçdaroğlu: ‘I will establish Table of 16 if necessary’

Following the electoral loss of the main opposition alliance Table of Six, CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu has said that he will establish Table of 16 if necessary “for Turkey to come to the light.”

Wednesday June 21 2023 12:13 am

Main opposition alliance Table of Six leaders presenting their constitution draft for the "Strengthened Parliamentary System" on Nov. 28, 2022, in the capital Ankara.

Duvar English

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on June 20 stated that “Not Table of Six, I will establish Table of 16 if necessary for Turkey to come to the light.”

Speaking at the parliamentary group meeting of his party, Kılıçdaroğlu said “None of us, any CHP member, has the right to despair. It is our duty to bring Turkey to the light in the most difficult conditions. Not Table of Six, I will establish Table of 16 if necessary for Turkey to come to the light. We will definitely send this government.”

Kılıçdaroğlu’s remarks are regarded as he does not have intention to resign from the party leadership.

Kılıçdaroğlu established an electoral and political alliance, Table of Six, also known as Nation Alliance, consisting six opposition parties.

The alliance was first established prior to the 2018 parliamentary and presidential elections, including CHP, Good (İYİ) Party, Felicity (Saadet) Party, and Democrat Party.

In 2022, the alliance expanded with two AKP-breakaway parties: Future (Gelecek) Party and Democracy and Progress (DEVA) Party.

The alliance party leaders had officially met 15 times since February 2022 until the May 14 elections and prepared a constitution draft, offering strengthened parliamentary system instead of today's hyper-presidential regime.

The main opposition bloc entered the May 14 parliamentary election under the CHP and İYİ Party lists. The other four parties nominated 71 deputy candidates from the main opposition CHP list in a move to be advantageous under Turkey’s electoral system.

In the parliamentary elections, the CHP received 25.41 percent of the votes, falling short of expectations, ending up having 169 seats in the parliament out of 600 while leaving the majority to the ruling alliance. 38 deputies out of 169 were from other alliance parties, initiating the criticisms against Kılıçdaroğlu for allocating “too many” seats for “small” and “ineffective” parties.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also beat Nation Alliance's presidential candidate Kılıçdaroğlu in the second round of the presidential elections on May 28 with 52.18 percent of the votes.