25.08.2026 17:31
CHP General Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu made striking statements at a meeting with his party's provincial heads. Kılıçdaroğlu said, "We will change our bylaws. We will make primaries mandatory. I want you to know this. We have experienced many drawbacks in history caused by the strengthening of the center. We need to trust the organization."
CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu addressed provincial chairpersons and organization managers at his party's provincial chairs meeting. Kılıçdaroğlu, who made assessments regarding Turkey's economic and social problems, emphasized that the CHP aspires to solve these problems and called on organizations to work more actively in the field. Kılıçdaroğlu also gave important messages regarding intra-party functioning, announcing that the party charter would be amended and that primary elections would become mandatory.
"POLITICS IS NOT A MEANS OF ENRICHMENT"
Speaking here, Kılıçdaroğlu noted that Turkey is going through difficult conditions and called on CHP organizations to work more in the field and actively struggle to produce solutions to citizens' problems.
Drawing attention to the fact that the Republican People's Party is a party focused not on a position, a period, or a cadre, but on the common future of the nation, Kılıçdaroğlu said, "We are a cadre working for the nation. We are a cadre working for the citizen, and we struggle to fulfill the requirements of that cadre. Remember, repeat it everywhere you go. Politics is not a means of enrichment, period. Say this everywhere. Look, the point of all governments other than the CHP government is that they used politics for enrichment. That is why all of them have gone to the dustbin of history. If you accept politics as a means of enrichment, if you reach a certain position and rank, if you commit corruption, if you fill your pockets, if you fill the pockets of your cronies, if you do not see the poverty of the nation, the citizen will send you to the dustbin of history after a while. This is the basic philosophy of our moral superiority. You will say it all together, all together. Politics is not a means of enrichment. Whoever engages in politics and enriches themselves, know that they are stealing the money in the citizen's pocket. They have reached out to the state treasury. We do not come from a tradition that reaches out to the Bayt al-Mal" he stated.
"DO NOT ENGAGE IN ARGUMENTS WITH THOSE WHO LEFT THE CHP"
Kılıçdaroğlu stated that one should stay away from polemics against possible arguments with figures who left the CHP, saying, "By no means engage in an argument with those who left the Republican People's Party. Our concern is different. Never engage in sterile arguments. Never be a party to such an argument. We set out to solve the problems of our own country, not sterile arguments. If they tell us, 'they are saying this, they are saying that,' we will say, whatever they say, let them say. As the Republican People's Party, we will not be a part of sterile arguments. While the country has so many problems, we will try to solve these problems."
"WE WILL CHANGE OUR BYLAWS"
Kılıçdaroğlu announced that before the congress, they would hold a meeting with the participation of different levels of party organizations and would make changes to the party bylaws. Kılıçdaroğlu said, "We will change our bylaws. We will make primary elections mandatory. I want you to know this. We have experienced some drawbacks of strengthening the center and those drawbacks many times in history. We need to trust the organization. We need to respect the will of the organization. Of course, there may be deficiencies. But it is easy to eliminate the deficiency at the organization level, but it may be difficult to eliminate it fundamentally. That is why we will also do this."