The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) following allegations of vote-buying at the party’s recent congress.
Former CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and former general secretary Akif Hamzaçebi have been summoned to provide testimony as witnesses. However, Kılıçdaroğlu declined to testify, Sözcü TV reported, citing his lawyer Celal Çelik.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who led the CHP from 2009 until 2023, stepped down after losing the presidential election to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2023 elections. Following the defeat, the party held a general congress where Özgür Özel, backed by İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, was elected as the new chair.
The investigation comes after President Erdoğan's recent accusations of irregularities during the CHP congress. On Feb 1, the president labeled the congress "tainded," saying, "Two or three years ago, they couldn’t praise their former chairman enough. They called him ‘Gandhi Kemal,’ the ‘Democratic Uncle of the Youth.’ But overnight, they made him a scapegoat for their election defeat. They blamed him for the failure in the May elections and ousted him in a shady congress. The man they once thought fit to govern 85 million people is now unfit for their party. No one even asks for his opinion anymore." (VK)
