Former Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has attracted criticism after calling on his party to engage in “purification” and “self-reflection” at a time when the main opposition is facing a wave of investigations and arrests widely viewed by government critics as politically motivated.
In a video posted on his X account on Wednesday, the 77-year-old Kılıçdaroğlu described the party as a “sacred trust” and said the CHP must not become a refuge for wrongdoing, remarks that critics said appeared to lend credibility to corruption allegations used in ongoing operations targeting CHP-run municipalities.
Bu güzel ülkenin vicdan sahibi, yurtsever ve asil yurttaşlarına… pic.twitter.com/LNuLp2AVHU
— Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (@kilicdarogluk) May 20, 2026
“Politics that becomes polluted first rots the conscience, then destroys morality and ultimately sets its sights on the bread of the people,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.
“That is why keeping politics clean and bringing prosperity to the people’s table is a matter of honor for everyone engaged in politics in this country.”
His remarks came amid mounting pressure on the CHP, which has faced a series of investigations, detentions and arrests targeting its mayors and municipal officials since its major gains in the March 2024 local elections.
The CHP, now led by Özgür Özel, has denounced the probes as politically motivated attempts to weaken the party and overturn the will of the voters, despite the fact that the government insists the judiciary is independent.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who led the CHP for 13 years before losing the party leadership to Özel in November 2023, said the CHP was not merely an inheritance left to party members but a trust handed down from the founding of the republic.
The CHP, Turkey’s oldest political party, was established by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, and has long identified itself with the country’s republican and secular traditions.
“The Republican People’s Party is not a legacy left to us. Our party is a sacred trust. A trust cannot be polluted; it cannot be smeared,” he said.
Kılıçdaroğlu repeated earlier calls for “self-reflection” and “purification,” saying the CHP must know how to cleanse itself when necessary.
“The shade of this great plane tree can never be a shelter for corruption and pollution,” he said. “When necessary, it knows how to purify itself and how to engage in self-reflection. But it never turns away from its path.”
Kılıçdaroğlu’s statement fell short of criticizing the investigations targeting the CHP, which so far have led to the arrest of more than 20 of its mayors and hundreds of municipal officials, including İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest political rival, on charges including corruption, bribery, bid rigging and membership in a criminal organization.
Kılıçdaroğlu’s video quickly prompted backlash on social media, where many users interpreted the message as an intervention in an ongoing legal and political dispute over the CHP’s 2023 party congress, where Kılıçdaroğlu was removed as chairman and replaced by Özel.
An Ankara court in October 2025 dismissed a corruption case that was based on alleged vote buying and vote rigging at the 2023 congress, ruling that it had become moot because the CHP had since held another leadership vote and re-elected Özel at an extraordinary congress in September 2025.
However, the issue has remained politically sensitive, with the debate on the 2023 party congress resurfacing in recent weeks.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek told reporters in late April that the case was being examined at the appeals stage by an Ankara regional court and said the timing and direction of any decision were entirely up to the judiciary.
“We have no information about when the decision will be made or what direction it will take,” Gürlek said, according to Turkish media reports.
Critics argue that Kılıçdaroğlu’s remarks could be read as support for allegations that have been used to question the legitimacy of the party’s current leadership.
The video was viewed more than 500,000 times in about 90 minutes, according to Turkish media reports, and was shared by 19 CHP lawmakers.
Kılıçdaroğlu appeared to respond to criticism in the same video, saying he would not remain silent or say what others expected of him.
“There are those who expect me to remain silent or say other things. Listen to me carefully: Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu does not negotiate the interests of the people or his party for his own future,” he said. “Your slanders and threats mean nothing to me. I tell the truth. I stand with the truth.”
CHP parliamentary group deputy chairman Ali Mahir Başarır rejected interpretations that Kılıçdaroğlu was targeting the current party leadership and said he understood the former chairman’s remarks as a call for the judiciary and justice system to be cleansed.
“I understood him to be talking about the purification of a system in which his and our fellow companions are in prison due to unjust and unlawful indictments and investigations,” Başarır said, referring to detained CHP mayors and party officials.
The controversy comes as the CHP leadership has repeatedly accused President Erdoğan’s government of using the courts to pressure the opposition.
Kılıçdaroğlu’s critics said the timing of the video was especially damaging because it shifted attention away from what they describe as a government-led judicial campaign against the CHP and instead amplified calls for internal cleansing as if the allegations against the party had already been proven.
The former CHP leader has remained a polarizing figure within the party since his defeat in the 2023 presidential election to Erdoğan and his subsequent loss of the CHP leadership.
His latest message has revived the debate over whether he is preparing to play a more active role in internal party politics at a moment when the CHP is under growing legal and political pressure.