CHP dissidents call on Kılıçdaroğlu to resign over election defeat

Dissidents in the Republican People’s Party (CHP) have called on Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to resign and hold an extraordinary convention in protest at the presidential election results in which the party leadership nominated a conservative elitist instead of a social democrat figure for the presidency.

“This understanding of opposition has come to an end. The CHP has tried to be like others and has lost. From now on, it will either draw a new road map or continue to deceive itself. Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu and his team should cease accusing voters and should display virtue by withdrawing from their positions and go to the convention,” Emine Ülker Tarhan, a CHP deputy, said at a press conference on Aug. 12 with the participation of some other dissident deputies.

Tarhan strongly accused Kılıçdaroğlu of nominating what she described as a conservative elitist instead of someone representing the values and principles the CHP carries. “Because of this strategy, the presidential elections could not be taken to the second round,” she said.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won the elections with 51.65 percent of the vote. The CHP’s candidate, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, who was jointly nominated by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a number of minor parties, won 38.57 percent of the vote.

Tarhan called on delegates at a prospective convention to consider the party’s future on the eve of the 2015 parliamentary elections, noting that it would be a fight for survival while imploring them to take the responsibility of putting the CHP back on the path to power.  

Kılıçdaroğlu earlier said he was not closed to the idea of holding an extraordinary convention...