{"id":115751,"date":"2026-06-24T22:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/115751\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T22:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:15:19","slug":"kilicdaroglu-adopts-govt-narrative-says-chp-investigations-are-corruption-probes-not-political","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/115751\/","title":{"rendered":"K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu adopts gov\u2019t narrative, says CHP investigations are corruption probes, not political"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu, the court-reinstated leader of Turkey\u2019s main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP), has adopted the government\u2019s narrative on criminal cases targeting the party, describing them as corruption investigations rather than politically motivated prosecutions, Turkish Minute<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

He made the remarks in an interview with Cumhuriyet columnist Mustafa Balbay, who pressed him on growing legal pressure on the CHP, including the prosecution of jailed \u0130stanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu and a series of investigations into CHP-run municipalities.<\/p>\n

The comments attracted attention because they closely mirror the position of President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s government, which denies using the courts to weaken the opposition and says the cases against CHP officials are legitimate corruption probes.<\/p>\n

The interview came amid a deepening leadership crisis in the CHP after a court ruling\u00a0returned<\/a>\u00a0K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu to party leadership last month and removed \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel, who had defeated him at the party\u2019s 2023 congress.<\/p>\n

K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu told Balbay he was open to criticism but objected to what he described as misinformation.<\/p>\n

Asked why he viewed the cases as nonpolitical, he said, \u201cThey are corruption cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balbay pressed him on the case against \u0130mamo\u011flu, for whom prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of up to 2,500 years, as well as the cancellation of his university diploma before his arrest in March 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am also against trial in detention,\u201d K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu replied, adding that he had not changed the position he expressed when he visited \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u0130mamo\u011flu and other defendants in the \u0130stanbul Metropolitan Municipality case deny the corruption allegations and say the prosecution is politically motivated.<\/p>\n

His comments are likely to deepen anger among CHP members who argue that calling the cases \u201ccorruption investigations\u201d gives political cover to a crackdown the party says is designed to undo the opposition\u2019s gains in the March 2024 local elections.<\/p>\n

K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu was returned to the CHP leadership after an Ankara appeals court on May 21 annulled the party\u2019s 2023 congress, which \u00d6zel had won, and reinstated the former chairman and his team as an interim measure.<\/p>\n

The ruling has deepened divisions within the CHP. \u00d6zel\u2019s supporters have rejected the court decision and called for an extraordinary congress, while K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu\u2019s side has begun preparations for an ordinary congress.<\/p>\n

Balbay also asked whether K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu could have rejected the annulment ruling while preserving party unity, including by saying internal disputes should be settled at a congress rather than in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a court issues a ruling, you may criticize it in the strongest terms, but you must comply with it,\u201d K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu said.<\/p>\n

K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu led the CHP for 13 years before losing the party leadership to \u00d6zel. He was also the opposition\u2019s joint presidential candidate in 2023, when he lost to President Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n

The CHP has faced growing legal and political pressure since its major gains in the March 2024 local elections. More than 20 CHP mayors and hundreds of municipal officials have been detained or arrested in investigations the party says are aimed at reversing the opposition\u2019s electoral gains.<\/p>\n

\u0130mamo\u011flu, the elected mayor of Turkey\u2019s largest city and President Erdo\u011fan\u2019s main political rival, remains in pretrial detention on charges of leading a criminal organization involved in bribery, fraud and bid rigging.<\/p>\n

He denies the accusations and says the case is intended to remove him from the next presidential race.<\/p>\n

The CHP says the prosecution of \u0130mamo\u011flu and the removal of \u00d6zel\u2019s leadership are part of the same effort to weaken the opposition before the next national election.<\/p>\n

The government denies interfering in the judiciary and claims Turkish courts act independently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu, the court-reinstated leader of Turkey\u2019s main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP), has adopted the government\u2019s narrative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[83],"tags":[2031,425,1181,33603,57766,429,8632,430,131,132,155],"class_list":["post-115751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-stockholm","tag-crackdown-on-opposition","tag-democracy","tag-istanbul-mayor-ekrem-imamoglu","tag-kemal-kilicdaroglu","tag-mustafa-balbay","tag-oppression","tag-ozgur-ozel","tag-republican-peoples-party-chp","tag-stockholm","tag-sweden","tag-turkey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116807396748174587","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}