Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and one of Turkey’s most prominent opposition leaders, is set to make a major announcement tomorrow (July 28) regarding the future of the Turkish opposition following major losses in May’s general elections, which saw President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan elected to a third term and his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) coalition win a majority in the Turkish parliament.
Since the major defeat in May, İmamoğlu has attracted attention for his calls for change in the Turkish opposition. While the İstanbul mayor has yet to directly challenge CHP chairman and former presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, relations between the two men have been icy over the past two months. In early July, İmamoğlu announced the launch of a website (iktidaricindegisim.org) with a message reading: “An invitation for change: we invite you to join in our process of change for Turkey, and change of leadership.” Last week, images of a private Zoom call between İmamoğlu and other CHP officials in Kılıçdaroğlu’s absence fed speculation that the CHP may be on the verge of a schism or major internal power struggle.
Last weekend, the CHP held a meeting between the chairman and mayors of various CHP-controlled cities across Turkey in which Kılıçdaroğlu reportedly signalled an openness to leadership change in the party, which he has led since 2010. The meeting was the first between Kılıçdaroğlu and İmamoğlu since the details of the mayor’s secret Zoom call came to light. İmamoğlu was scolded by party leaders for disobeying party hierarchy, while he defended it as ‘perfectly normal’.
İmamoğlu’s upcoming announcement is expected to be a continuation of the initiative launched with the website earlier this month. This time, the İstanbul mayor is expected to more clearly articulate his plans for reforming the Turkish opposition. Friday’s announcement is expected to incorporate feedback received from the iktidaricindegisim.org website, which allows voters to submit suggestions for reforming Turkey’s opposition. İmamoğlu’s team has reportedly been analyzing this feedback in recent weeks, in preparation for the mayor’s announcement.
İmamoğlu was a major surrogate for Kılıçdaroğlu throughout the presidential campaign this past spring. Originally considered a prospective presidential candidate himself, İmamoğlu ended up instead remaining at the helm of Turkey’s largest city. After his nomination as the main opposition candidate, Kılıçdaroğlu announced that İmamoğlu would serve as a vice president in his administration should he win the presidency. Since his election as İstanbul mayor in 2019, İmamoğlu has been among Turkey’s most prominent and popular opposition politicians, and he currently faces a court case that threatens to ban him from politics if successful.
Written for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
