Speaking to T24 in a wide-ranging interview published on Wednesday, Özel said, “If we were to withdraw from parliament, Erdoğan would be the happiest person in the country. Within sixty days there would be by-elections, the ruling bloc could return with 400 deputies and rewrite the constitution at will.”
Özel stressed that CHP’s participation in the “Terror-Free Turkey” body hinges on one crucial guarantee: decisions must require a qualified majority rather than a simple vote of the ruling alliance. “The moment Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş publicly confirms qualified-majority voting, we will submit our nominees,” he said. Entering the forum, Özel contended, would honor CHP’s long-standing principle that the Kurdish question and broader democratization “must be resolved in parliament, not in back-room deals.” Once inside, the party intends to conduct “full-throttle opposition, spell out the facts and stay only if genuine progress is made.”
Warning against mass resignations
Grass-roots activists have urged CHP to force a snap general election by abandoning its 129 parliamentary seats and encouraging mayors to resign en masse. Özel called the proposal “a gift to the palace,” noting that vacant municipalities would be filled internally by existing councils—many of which the governing alliance could sway. “Early elections remain our goal,” he said, “but they must arise from public pressure, not a tactical blunder that hands over city halls and parliamentary chairs on a silver platter.”
Imamoğlu and the Istanbul factor
Özel also defended Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, whose legal battles continue to shadow the country’s largest metropolis. He credited CHP’s swift street mobilization in 2023 for deterring a government-appointed trustee and reaffirmed that, unless legally barred, İmamoğlu is still the party’s candidate for the next Istanbul contest. “We will exhaust every legal and political avenue to secure his place on the ballot,” Özel vowed. Should courts ultimately block the mayor, “The day that happens, we will pick whoever can win—because defeating this government is non-negotiable.”
Turning to intra-party debates, the chairman appealed for a moratorium on televised infighting, which he said benefited neither former leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu nor the broader opposition. He issued a stark warning to Ankara: “Appointing a trustee to run CHP or Istanbul is impossible. No one not elected at our convention can govern this party. We guarded the flag in Saraçhane; we will never drop Atatürk’s flag either.
Özel’s remarks underscore a strategic shift: rather than symbolic walkouts, the CHP will seek to leverage its influence within state institutions while rallying voters for an early nationwide election. Whether the promised commission becomes a venue for substantive reform—or another arena for partisan gridlock—now depends on Speaker Kurtulmuş’s next procedural move and the government’s willingness to share power in shaping Turkey’s security agenda.
Photo: Yetkinreport