 on Friday opened its 39th Ordinary Congress in Ankara with a strong emphasis on preparing for power, as party leader Özgür Özel presented the party’s first program overhaul in 17 years, Deutsche Welle's Turkish service reported.){kind=link}
Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Friday opened its 39th Ordinary Congress in Ankara with a strong emphasis on preparing for power, as party leader Özgür Özel presented the party’s first program overhaul in 17 years, Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service reported.
The three-day gathering, held under the slogan “Now is the time for power,” brings together thousands of delegates at a moment when the CHP is projecting confidence about its electoral prospects while navigating serious political pressure from the government as well as internal tensions.
Symbols of the party’s current political struggle were prominent in the hall. Large banners featured detained CHP mayors, including İstanbul’s jailed mayor and former presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu. A giant patchwork banner reading “Justice First, Freedom First,” stitched by women from 81 provinces under the leadership of the mayor’s wife, Dilek Kaya İmamoğlu, hung over the stands.
Dozens of CHP mayors, including Ankara’s Mansur Yavaş and İzmir’s Cemil Tugay, were present, as was Ahmet Özer, mayor of İstanbul’s Esenyurt district who was the first mayor from the party to be arrested and removed from office in a crackdown that began more than a year ago. He was released earlier this month.
Opening the congress, Özel said the CHP’s goal is to shape a safer, stronger and more prosperous future for Turkey, arguing that state institutions had deteriorated under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). He emphasized that the CHP had resisted months of political pressure and an expanding government crackdown, including the arrest of more than a dozen CHP mayors, and had continued its program-writing efforts even while preparing speeches atop campaign buses.
Özel described the new party program as one of the most participatory drafting processes in recent Turkish political history and said it would guide the CHP’s policy agenda. He called on the party’s 2 million members to take the program “door to door,” telling voters, “We will guarantee your child’s preschool, school meals, housing rights and future security.”
Delegates set to approve new program
The first day of the congress focused on the formal approval of the new CHP program, which party officials say reflects months of work and broad public input. The overhaul marks the party’s most significant program update since 2008.
The opening day also brought major structural changes. Delegates approved bylaw amendments formally defining the Presidential Candidate Office within the party statute and placing the “shadow cabinet” under this office instead of the Central Executive Board (MYK). The MYK — expanded to 24 members last year — is expected to be streamlined to around 13–14 members after the congress. The shadow cabinet will be replaced by policy commissions that will coordinate core areas of governance.
According to DW, internal discussions indicate that a major reshuffle is expected in the Party Assembly, with as many as two-thirds of the current 60-member body potentially changing. Delegates on Friday also approved a bylaw amendment expanding the assembly to 80 seats.
Özel is expected to be re-elected chairman during Saturday’s leadership vote, where he remains the sole candidate. More than 1,300 delegates will cast ballots.
Party officials say the restructuring aims to strengthen the CHP’s institutional readiness for the next election cycle, combining younger groups with experienced figures as the party continues to face political pressure and ongoing investigations.
Former CHP leader absent as internal tensions continue
Former party chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who led the CHP from 2010 to 2023 and lost the 2023 presidential election to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, did not attend the congress. He, along with other former party leaders, had been invited to the event by Özel.
His absence comes days after he posted a video message in which he commented on a high-profile trial on charges of corruption, bribery and money laundering that has led to the arrest and detention of dozens of local CHP officials. He sharply criticized the current leadership’s handling of corruption allegations and insisted that the CHP “must cleanse itself” to remain credible.
Kılıçdaroğlu has accused the current leadership of sidelining him and vowed to defend the party from both internal and external threats. While Kılıçdaroğlu has few delegates behind him and is not expected to mount a leadership challenge, his critique adds to internal tension as Özel seeks to consolidate his authority.
The congress takes place against the backdrop of a wide-ranging government crackdown targeting the CHP since October 2024, when the party won İstanbul, Ankara and other major cities and secured the largest share of the national vote for the first time in decades.
A recent CHP report documented mass detentions, politically motivated investigations and the appointment of government trustees to CHP-run municipalities. According to the report, 16 CHP mayors remain behind bars, and trustees have been imposed on 13 municipalities, including İstanbul’s Esenyurt and Şişli districts.
The crackdown escalated sharply after the March arrest of İstanbul Mayor İmamoğlu, the party’s 2028 presidential candidate and widely seen as Erdoğan’s most formidable political opponent.
The CHP report describes the multiple legal cases against İmamoğlu, including his prison sentences for allegedly insulting election officials and a prosecutor, as “the most visible examples of political pressure on the opposition.”