29.05.2026 22:30
The leadership crisis in the CHP has turned into a full-fledged power struggle over rallies and holiday greeting programs. It was alleged that the CHP headquarters under Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu filed an official application with the Ankara Governorship and Police Department to prevent the rally planned by Özgür Özel and his team for the weekend in Ankara, declaring it "unauthorized." Meanwhile, Kılıçdaroğlu's lawyer Celal Çelik stated that this allegation is not true.
After the court's absolute nullity decision, the Republican People's Party (CHP), which has been experiencing turbulent days, has now brought the debates over the chairmanship and administration to the streets.
The General Headquarters under the leadership of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and the temporarily suspended Özgür Özel and his team faced off in Ankara, both at a rally and at Eid greeting programs.
GENERAL HEADQUARTERS APPLIES TO GOVERNORSHIP AND POLICE "DO NOT ALLOW"
According to a claim reported by journalist Fatih Atik based on insider information, the CHP General Headquarters described the weekend rally that Özgür Özel and his team planned to organize in Ankara as illegal or unauthorized. Stating that such an organization cannot be held without the permission of the General Headquarters, the administration applied to official authorities to prevent the rally.
Atik reported this hot development with the following words: "The Republican People's Party administration never accepts Özgür Özel and his team holding an unauthorized rally. And they state that the announced event and the organized gathering are unauthorized. Because the General Headquarters has no permission for such a rally. Therefore, the CHP General Headquarters administration applied to the Ankara Governorship. The matter was also conveyed to the Ankara Police. They requested that Özgür Özel and his friends' alternative rally should not be allowed, stating that it would be an unauthorized rally."
"THEY STILL ACT LIKE THE CHAIRMAN"
Atik, stating that the General Headquarters administration used clear language in the application's justification, said, "They say, 'We do not allow this because Özgür Özel and his friends cannot organize a rally in the name of the CHP. We do not allow such a thing to happen,' and the General Headquarters made an official application. The only address for the rally to be held on Saturday is the General Headquarters."
Arguing that the Ankara Police will not permit the rally following this application, Atik criticized the behind-the-scenes crisis: "Özel and his team continue to act as if they are still the CHP Chairman. They are using CHP accounts, Ankara Provincial accounts, and social media accounts. These are things that CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and the General Headquarters Administration cannot allow. A party has only one headquarters. That is the General Headquarters and Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu."
STATEMENT FROM HIS LAWYER: WE DID NOT REQUEST CANCELLATION
Meanwhile, journalist Barış Yarkadaş shared the statement made by Kılıçdaroğlu's lawyer, Celal Çelik, regarding these claims. According to this, Çelik said, "We did not request the cancellation of Özgür Özel's rally. This is not true." The statement from the Kılıçdaroğlu camp was as follows: "The CHP administration has not applied to the Ankara Governorship to ban the rally to be held in Güvenpark tomorrow. The Governorship asked whether the march calls to be made across the province by various district organizations tomorrow were on the instruction of the CHP administration, and the CHP General Headquarters shared the information that there was no such call. There is no request or application for a ban."
KILIÇDAROĞLU AND ÖZEL HOLD SEPARATE EID GREETINGS AT THE SAME TIME
The CHP is preparing for two separate Eid greeting programs in Ankara tomorrow. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will address party members in the General Headquarters garden at 2:00 PM. No stage setup or bus will be placed in the garden for Kılıçdaroğlu's speech; it will be delivered from the stairs where the CHP logo is located.
At the same time, another Eid greeting program will be held by CHP Group Chairman Özgür Özel. At the gathering in front of the CHP Ankara Provincial Headquarters in Güvenpark, Özel will address citizens from atop a bus. The call made by the Provincial Headquarters to citizens included the words: "We are waiting for all our people to expand the spirit of solidarity of the holiday and strengthen our unity and struggle."