“Nobody can give instructions to the organisation”

Replying to the CHP’s presidential candidate Muharrem İnce’s call for the convening of an extraordinary congress and for him to be General Chair and Kılıçdaroğlu to be Honorary General Chair and group chair, CHP General Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said, “It was not an internal CHP election on 24 June. The election was not held for CHP leadership. An election was held in the country.”

Kılıçdaroğlu raised the questions, “Was the Nation Alliance a mistake? Was sending fifteen MPs to the Good Party a mistake? Was fielding Muharrem İnce as presidential candidate a mistake?” and added, “Nobody can give instructions to the CHP organisation.” Kılıçdaroğlu came together with İnce for the first time since the election the evening before last at a private dinner. The dinner, at which no party people were present, was attended only by Kılıçdaroğlu’s and İnce’s wives. Following the dinner that lasted late into the night, Muharrem İnce, going to parliament in the morning, made a statement before the cameras. İnce gave the following account of what transpired at the dinner: “He had no proposal for me. I made a proposal to him. I said, ‘You convene an extraordinary congress. Be Honorary General Chair and Group Chair and I’ll be the party’s General Chair’.” Kılıçdaroğlu spoke to Cumhuriyet following these statements by İnce. Kılıçdaroğlu conveyed the message that he would certainly not embark on an extraordinary congress and had started preparations for the local elections, which may possibly be held in the autumn and in nine months’ time if held at the normal time. Kılıçdaroğlu said the following:

It was a family dinner: Mr İnce did good work in the election period. His wife also accompanied him from time to time on the campaign. We took our wives along and had a restful dinner at which we mutually unloaded our concerns. It was a private dinner. It was an in-family dinner. At the dinner, jokes and anecdotes were told and memories and observations about the campaign period were shared. In fact, care was taken to give no statement to the press before or after the dinner. I don’t consider it to conform in the least to human and political politeness for the things discussed at that private dinner to be spoken of out of context

The organisation will think of the following (regarding İnce’s comment that the organisation will solve things if he does not stand down): The organisations are always solution brokers in the CHP tradition. They are the keepers of the party’s promises and decisions. Of course, the organisation will think. The organisation will consider, for example, if the Nation Alliance we formed was a mistake. The organisation will consider if our enabling the Good Part to contest the election by sending fifteen MPs to the Good Party, which was going to be prevented from participating in the election, was a mistake. And the organisation will contemplate if our fielding Muharrem İnce as a presidential candidate was a mistake. The organisation will assess all this.

Nobody can give instructions to the organisation: In short, nobody has a monopoly over the CHP organisation. It is under nobody’s instructions. Nobody can give instructions to the CHP organisation. Every organisation passes decision according to its own judgement, conscience and party-member identity, not under instruction or order.

The AKP’s dissolution is being camouflaged: The AKP, above all the pool media, wishes to camouflage the real result of the 24 June election. It wants to prevent the real result from being seen. Nobody should fall into this trap because it was the ruling party, the AKP, that lost the 24 June election. They cannot blot out and camouflage this result by creating a commotion in the CHP. The AKP fell from 49 odd per cent to 42 odd per cent. Nobody should permit this truth to be covered or hushed up. The AKP lost on 24 June and will continue to lose.

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