Republican People’s Party (CHP) presidential candidate Muharrem İnce on Tuesday said he proposed that CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu become an honorary chairman and name him chairman of the party at a convention, underlining that the party will resolve the issue if he refuses.
İnce and Kılıçdaroğlu met at a three-hour-long dinner in Ankara on Monday.
“I proposed that if he wants, he could call for an emergency convention, that I could become chairman and he could be the honorary chairman. I have made the proposal. I don’t know. It will be at his discretion. I will not collect signatures if he refuses. The [party] organization will resolve it,” Ince told the press in Parliament on Tuesday while answering questions about his meeting with Kılıçdaroğlu.
İnce said Kılıçdaroğlu showed true statesmanship when he sent 15 deputies to the İYİ (Good) Party ahead of elections in June and named him the presidential candidate of the CHP despite the fact that he had twice challenged him for chairmanship of the party.
“I will not run against [Kılıçdaroğlu] and compete against him. I would not commit such disloyalty to a person who put me forward as the presidential candidate,” İnce said on Sunday as intra-party debates became the center of attention within the CHP following the June 24 elections.
CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu, on the other hand, stated that exposing what was discussed at a private dinner was “a lack of political politeness.” CHP spokesperson Bülent Tezcan also said there was no need for an early convention.
Turkey’s main opposition party received 22 percent of the vote and their presidential candidate garnered 30 percent in the recent elections, which has sparked criticism of the current management, leading some members and supporters to demand the resignation of the CHP leader.