The fight for Atatürk's legacy

What is happening inside the opposition after the ruling party's election loss and why can't progressive nationalists and republicans find a common language?

The Turkish opposition is still grieving the loss of the parliamentary and presidential elections that took place in the country back in May. Erdogan's main opponents fell out: the Good Party finally parted ways with Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Meral Akshener, the leader of the "good guys", announced that the party will no longer form coalitions for the local elections in 2024 and will nominate its candidates in all 81 provinces. In the Republican People's Party itself, the blame for the loss is placed on the leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who did not support Akshener's idea to nominate one of the two popular mayors - Ankara or Istanbul - against Erdogan.

The 38th Kurultai of the party, which was founded by Atatürk in 1919, will be held on November 5, 2023. Currently, regional congresses are taking place in the country, electing 1,370 delegates of the future Kurultai. To be nominated for the post of party chairman, signatures of 5% of delegates must be obtained - that is, 69 votes out of 1,370. The most important are the congresses in Ankara and Istanbul, which have the largest quotas. Their votes will be decisive, and the leader chosen by the party will pass the first test in the local races of 2024 and lead the party to the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2028.

So far, two Republicans have announced that they will become Kilicdaroglu’s competitors.

58-year-old Professor Orsan Oymen belongs to a family that has been associated with the CHP for decades. He was a member of the party council. Oymen is a doctor of philosophy. His uncle Altai Oymen headed the party for 15 months in the late 90s, and his cousin Onur Oymen was a staff diplomat and ambassador of Turkey to Denmark and Germany.

However, if someone defeats Kilicdaroglu in the intra-party struggle, it will most likely be the leader of the CHP faction in the parliament Ozgur Ozel. The former pharmacist from the city of Manisa has been elected to the parliament from the CHP since 2011. He had two unsuccessful campaigns for the position of the mayor of Manisa, besides, he is called a dependent politician who depends on the current mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu. The Istanbul leader leads the front against Kilicdaroglu, but he does not fight for this position, because then he will not be able to apply for the mayoral seat in the spring of 2024.

Former partners of the CHP in the opposition are also expecting changes within the party. Meral Akshener's adamance about nominating her candidates in local elections may change if Kemal Kilicdaroglu loses. Akshener prefers to get rid of his "elder brother" in politics. In 2017, Kilicdaroglu "rented" 15 members of parliament to the newly formed Good Party. This made it possible to create a faction and, according to Turkish laws, ensured its independent participation in elections, despite the restriction that a party that has existed for less than a year cannot run for office. However, in 2023, Akshener was faced with a choice - either Kilicdaroglu would be the presidential candidate, or the "Table of six parties" would become a table of "five" without Akshener and her "good guys". Akshener publicly left the opposition alliance, but under the pressure of opposition public opinion, she returned to “table 6” and agreed to the partners' ultimatum. However, now it is her time to take revenge on Kilicdaroglu, who will either lose his position or in the CHP will lose 10 out of 11 positions of mayors of large cities in the local elections.