Kılıçdaroğlu: 'You cannot close a political party when election process started'

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The Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu declared that the joint presidential candidate of the Table of Six was to be determined on February 13. The candidate can be announced on that day or a few days later, Kılıçdaroğlu said.

Kılıçdaroğlu responded to questions on a live program on Halk TV last night (January 29). 

He said, "You cannot close a political party anymore when the election process has started. The party is making all its preparations and wants to enter the elections."

"We as CHP do not want any political party to be closed. Because it is not the leadership of a party, but it is directly the people who will decide if a party will come to power. If there is support from the people of course that party is going to continue its work," said Kılıçdaroğlu.

There is a closure case for the People's Democratic Party (HDP) at the Constitutional Court that started in June 2021 with an indictment for the alleged connections of the party to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). In this case, nearly 500 HDP members are also facing a ban from politics.

"We put pressure for early elections"

Kılıçdaroğlu recalled that President and the Justice and Development Party Chairperson Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was, in many of his statements, signaling that the elections, normally scheduled for June 18, will be held on May 14. 

He pointed out that the opposition first put pressure for an early election.

He said, "We thought that we would support it if it is held until April 6. The parliament would take a decision and we would respect it, and the election would be held with the old election law.

"The six leaders announced that they will not support [an early election] if Erdoğan says 'No I will hold it later.'"

"Erdoğan wants to go to elections in an atmosphere that favors him. He started doing things that we tell we will do when we come to power.

"But the people are aware of this. Erdoğan did not do this by his own will. He did all this after we put pressure, after we told, after we prevailed, and after there was pressure from the people. If he leaves the elections until June, the inflation is higher each month. So everyone is going to see that the wage increases he has made do not mean anything anymore."

"We said that we welcome the elections at any date. But we said that we will not vote for it in the Parliament. He only has one chance. And that is to dissolve the parliament."

Election manifesto to be announced 

The CHP leader also talked about the election manifesto to be announced by the Nation Alliance (Table of Six) today and said, "More than 2 thousand 300 concrete policies and projects will be announced under 9 main titles."

Kılıçdaroğlu told reporters their intention to first establish a commission for "damage assessment and fact-finding."

"We will assign clean, virtuous, and wise people who are experienced in the state institutions, in bureaucracy in this damage assessment commission. There will be 20 to 25 people in it. Then we will establish a strategy and planning institution." Kılıçdaroğlu said.

"Demirtaş unjustly held in prison"

Kılıçdaroğlu responded to the question and proposal addressed to him by Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned ex-Co-Chairperson of the People's Democratic Party.

Demirtaş had  asked Kılıçdaroğlu from his tweeter account:

"All candidates and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu; will it not be good if the Palace is allocated to a Women's Ministry to be founded, to centers of treatment and rehabilitation for women who are victims of violence, to women students lodgings, to guesthouses for women workers, to unions of women working at home, to women's shelters, and to women's non-governmental organizations? And the women will give a name to this campus for women's equality, what would you think about this?

Kılıçdaroğlu replied to Demirtaş's question in the program.

He said "I think this is a very good proposal, I thank him and send my greetings to him. I know that he is unjustly being kept in prison.

"I know that women have huge problems," Kılıçdaroğlu said and added, "If the politicians use the resources correctly, all problems can be solved. We have to build a society where there is no violence, where women are not subjected to violence."

The CHP leader also responded to a question on what he thinks about the Labor and Freedom Alliance of HDP running with its own presidential candidate. Kılıçdaroğlu said, "If they want democracy if they say 'Let's get this done in the first tour,' then those in favor of democracy should act in common. (SD/PE)