The civil war, which was sprouting within the Republican People’s Party (), came to the surface with the new trial against the Mayor of Constantinople and 11 other executives of the Kemalist Party following a complaint from a member of the CHP. This case has nothing to do with the ongoing corruption case in the Municipality of Constantinople, for which Imoglou is already in custody.
The new category, which will be tried on June 30, concerns the fraud and acquisition of votes at the CHP conference in November 2023, for its benefit, who, and to the detriment of his co -candidate and former CHP President Kemal Kilitsdaroglou. Imamoglou, who was in charge of the president of the conference in question, is presented in the indictment as the “brain” of the fraudulent business.
The prosecutor is Savas Loutfou, a chp official and former mayor of Hatay, elected to the Kemalist Party. Loutfou belongs to the sphere of influence of Kilicdaroglu. The former president of the CHP, whom the indictment describes as a “victim” of the fraud of his defeat in the intra -party elections, has so far kept silent fish.
Ozel: ‘We will not surrender’
“We will not leave Ataturk’s party to a commissioner,” Ozel said. He believes that he is attempting a “coup” of his departure and recapture the presidency of the Chp from the inside, with the help of the government, and even in an extremely difficult phase for the party that is undergoing the fifth wave of arrests of executives, in the corruption case.
The new court case brings to light the hard backdrop of the Civil War already raging in the CHP, between the two basic trends represented by Imamoglu (Ozel is his own choice for leadership) and Kilitsdaroglu who, with his in -house elections, was obliged by his 20 -party elections. against Erdogan who was re -elected.
“Open” return to Kilicdaroglou
“From a judicial point of view, the whole case is unfounded,” Chp Vice -President and SKAI Foreign Minister Ilhan Uzgel said in the step. “The indictment is very weak. We must, however, wait for the case to be heard. ” However, it does not exclude the “serious chance” that the court will void the Congress of 2023 and the 77 -year -old Kilicdaroglu “can allow the party leadership”.
The process “is not about the law, but the politics,” adds the Chp vice -president, who sees Erdogan’s “finger” in the case. “Erdogan is obviously trying to divide and weaken the CHP because he has a very active new leader. Remember, in spite of the barrage of persecution against the party, Ozel continues unabated and organizes rallies across the country, denouncing Imoglou’s arrest. This is the essence of the issue, behind the supposed fraud in our conference. ”
‘Government invents new accusations at will’
Sources from the Kemalist bloc argue that, “it is irreparably harmful” with his personal ambitions to regain control and that he is moving vindictively from his “anger” for Imamoglou and Ozel, who believes that he “stole the presidency”. It is no coincidence, they estimate, that Kilicdaroglu does not criticize Erdogan for the arrest of Mayor of Constantinople. “The government is inventing new accusations at will. Until Imamoglu is acquitted for one, there will be five other trials to follow, so he will never be able to get out of prison. They can play this game forever, “they say in” Step “.
In intra -party balances, voters and members of the party who are in favor of Kilicdaroglu are a minority and their numbers are decreasing. Mayors in his sphere of influence were massively shifted to Ozel’s “side”.
“The most pleased with the cancellation of the CP conference and the election of Ozel, besides Kilicdaroglu, are President Tayyip Erdogan and his government partner, Devlet Bachseli,” the veteran Turkish journalist said in his analysis.
