26.05.2026 19:50
CHP member Gürsel Tekin criticized Özgür Özel over the "Traitor Kemal" chants at the Izmir rally. Tekin said, "Remaining silent while someone who has devoted years to our party and served as chairman is called a 'traitor' in a rally square is to be complicit in that insult. The duty of a group chairman is not to collect praises for himself, but to immediately and most firmly stop such baseless attacks against his party and its past."
CHP member Gürsel Tekin strongly reacted to the "Traitor Kemal" slogans directed at Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu during Özgür Özel's rally in İzmir. Tekin stated that remaining silent about such an insult to a figure who has contributed to the party for years is unacceptable, arguing that silence means complicity in the insult.
"SILENCE IS COMPLICITY IN THE INSULT"
Tekin said: "Dear Özgür Özel, those ugly slogans echoing in the squares today are not just a bullet aimed at a person, but at the very institutional identity and tradition of the Republican People's Party.
To remain silent while someone who has devoted years to our party and served as chairman is called a 'Traitor' in the rally square is to be complicit in that insult.
"THE DUTY OF THE GROUP CHAIR IS TO STOP SUCH VULGAR ATTACKS"
By staying silent at that podium, you silenced not just the chairman, but the CHP's culture of loyalty. The duty of a group chair is not to collect praises, but to immediately and most firmly stop such vulgar attacks against his party and its past. A will that cannot manage the square and cannot quell an attack on its own values cannot claim to govern the country.
The CHP is not a signboard party. Those who do not protect that name today should also think carefully about their own place in political history tomorrow. The greatest rule of politics is loyalty."