Gürsel Tekin, a main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) heavyweight, has resigned from the party, accusing it of having “drifted away from its Kemalist and social democratic identity” shortly after his name was not included in the party’s mayoral candidates.
Kemalism, also known as Atatürkism, is the founding and official ideology of the Republic of Turkey based on the ideas and legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the architect of modern Turkey.
The politician announced his resignation on X, saying the CHP has evolved into a party where relationships between internal groups determine the distribution of positions, leading to the exclusion of members working for the party to come to power.
Aziz milletime ve yol arkadaşlarıma,
Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi’nin temel ilkeleri tüzük ve programında yer almaktadır. Ne yazık ki geçen zamanda CHP çağdaş uygarlığı hedefleyen, Türkiye’de iktidar olma ve halka hizmet etme amacına sahip Atatürkçü ve sosyal demokrat bir parti…
— Gürsel Tekin (@gurseltekin34) February 13, 2024
Tekin added that some party members prefer internal power struggles over the struggle to bring the party to power and that relationships like kinship and friendship are “decisive” at every level, instead of the “spirit of companionship” formed by ideology.
Although Tekin, the former CHP general secretary and İstanbul MP, was discussed as a potential mayoral candidate for İstanbul’s Kadıköy or Esenyurt districts, he wasn’t nominated.
The CHP announced its mayoral candidates for İstanbul’s 39 districts at a ceremony in İstanbul on Tuesday that was attended by CHP’s İstanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is seeking re-election.
Some social media users said Tekin’s resignation is due to his frustration about the party’s decision not to field him as a mayoral candidate more than about the policies of the party.
His resignation comes at a time when the CHP is attracting criticism from within and without the party due to its nomination of controversial figures to run in the March 31 local elections.
One of those is Cemil Tugay, the Karşıyaka district mayor in the CHP stronghold of İzmir, who was nominated as the party’s mayoral candidate for the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality in the upcoming elections.
The controversy surrounding the CHP’s nomination of Tugay — whose links to Cengiz Holding Chairman Mehmet Cengiz, a well-known pro-government businessman, had made the news — highlighted the internal divisions within the party.
Another such figure is current Hatay Mayor Lütfü Savaş from the CHP, who is being considered for renomination for the southern province.
The party has come under intense criticism for renominating a figure who was held partly responsible for the massive destruction in the city in two major earthquakes last year.
Hatay was one of the more than a dozen cities in Turkey’s south and southeast that were hit by two powerful earthquakes on February 6, 2023, with magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.5, claiming the lives of more than 53,000 people and leaving millions of others homeless.