Former opposition leader to sue ex-ally over ‘betrayal’ accusations

Meral Akşener, former leader of the nationalist İYİ (Good) Party, has said she will file a lawsuit against her former political ally, the ex-leader of the main opposition party, due to his remarks accusing her of betrayal to their political alliance, the Sözcü daily reported.

Akşener will sue former Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu due to his recent remarks in which he accused Akşener of betrayal to their opposition bloc, known as the “Table of Six” during a visit Akşener paid to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in June.

Both the İYİ Party and the CHP were members of the Table of Six along with four small opposition parties, which nominated Kılıçdaroğlu as their joint candidate against Erdoğan in the May 2023 presidential election.

Kılıçdaroğlu was defeated by Erdoğan in a runoff election, following which the opposition bloc dissolved and its members began to direct accusations at each other for making wrong decisions about the determination of their presidential candidate.

Akşener, who was against Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy, left the alliance but later returned due to public pressure before the elections, leading to comments about a conflict in the alliance.

Kılıçdaroğlu, who was voted out of CHP leadership at a party congress last November, said in a recent interview with the Kısa Dalga news website that “there should have been no walking out of the alliance and returning back” on Akşener’s part, considering the fact that the six parties had agreed on a joint text about how to govern Turkey and reinstate the parliamentary system.

“When I later saw Ms Akşener at the [presidential] palace, I was not surprised, to be honest. Unfortunately, we experience betrayal in these lands we live in,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

Akşener had a surprise meeting with Erdoğan at his presidential complex in Ankara on June 5, sparking speculation about the purpose of the meeting and whether she was seeking an alliance with Erdoğan.

The meeting came after she was replaced by Müsavat Dervişoğlu, the party’s deputy group chairman and Akşener’s right-hand man, in late April, following her party’s defeat in the local elections on March 31.

Neither Erdoğan nor Akşener made any statement following their meeting and only posed for photos for the press.

Akşener told the Sözcü daily that she would sue Kılıçdaroğlu as well as leader of the Victory Party Ümit Özdağ, who also claimed the existence of a secret alliance between Akşener and Erdoğan.

Özdağ claimed in recent remarks that Akşener told one of her advisors one month before the 2018 presidential election: “Don’t ask for a reason, we are electing the man [Erdoğan] as president.”

Özdağ, a former member of İYİ Party, claimed Akşener took the advisor, who is also the owner of a polling company, to a secure room and conveyed the controversial remarks. He said the anonymous advisor told him about the exchange which came as a shock to him.

Akşener was also a presidential candidate in the 2018 election in which Erdoğan was elected president.

The former İYİ Party leader told Sözcü that she is working with her lawyer to file lawsuits against Kılıçdaroğlu and Özdağ.

“Accusations of betrayal and dishonesty are just too much. It’s impossible for me to tolerate them,” said Akşener, as she accused both politicians of slandering her without any evidence to support their claims.

Some people claim that Akşener was Erdoğan’s “Trojan horse” in the Table of Six.

The İYİ Party was a member of the opposition alliance and received 9.9 percent of the nationwide vote and 44 seats in parliament in the May 2023 general election.

Erdoğan had called on Akşener in November 2022 to reconsider her party’s position in the political arena. The president said he wished the İYİ Party would undergo a transformation, leave the Table of Six and display an attitude in line with the interests of the nation.

Akşener rebuffed Erdoğan’s call, saying she didn’t sit at a gambling table where the future of the country could be ruined.