After a long period of silence, CHP's 7th President Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu shared his messages on two important issues on the agenda with the public in a 2 minute 43 second video. The video was viewed 18 million times in 36 hours.
The first is the ongoing corruption investigations against CHP municipalities, particularly IBB.
The second is the ‘Turkey without Terror’ process.
We will come to his messages on corruption investigations later.
But let's start with his message about a terror-free Turkey.
What did Kılıçdaroğlu say?
“CHP has to be involved in the process to eliminate the Israeli and American scourge that is waiting for us to stumble in the Middle East and for the interests of the state. It must take risks, look at the issue above politics and put its hand under the stone. Our nation expects the CHP to be a pioneer in the process of brotherhood and to steer the process. Being on the right side of history often requires courage and determination.”
The statement came after the CHP's decision not to send a member to the İmralı delegation and was interpreted as ‘Kılıçdaroğlu reacting to the CHP's decision not to go to İmralı’.
Immediately the archives were opened and Kılıçdaroğlu's past statements “There is a Kurdish problem that the political institution has not been able to solve for 35-40 years. We need a legitimate body to solve the Kurdish problem. The institution we call the state cannot deal with an illegitimate body. Erdoğan did this, he made the state interlocutor with İmralı. İmralı is not a legitimate body. Who is the legitimate body? We can see the HDP as a legitimate body. It has the support of the people, it came to parliament. If this problem is to be solved, we can solve it with legitimate bodies.” He was reminded of his statement and criticized for contradicting himself in order to oppose the current CHP administration.
Did Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu really say that CHP should have been a member of the İmralı delegation?
What does Kılıçdaroğlu say?
“The Republican People's Party gives direction to the state. CHP should take risks, look at the issue above politics and put its hand under the stone. Our nation expects the CHP to be a pioneer in the process of brotherhood and to steer the process. Being on the right side of history often requires courage and determination.”
In terms of timing, the fact that this statement was perceived as a criticism of the CHP's decision on İmralı is not surprising when we look at the average of Turkey's intellectual and political world.
However, the meaning of the message can be more clearly understood when you consider the issue in its historical context.
What was the CHP's argument in the first Resolution Process, which was initiated in 2013 and ended in 2015 with the collapse of the Dolmabahçe table?
“The Grand National Assembly of Turkey is the place to resolve this issue. The issue must be resolved on the floor of the Parliament.”
As a matter of fact, at that time, neither the government, the state mind nor the organization was very warm to this proposal.
However, in the second process that started with Devlet Bahçeli's call on October 22, 2024, there was a strong consensus that this time the address of the solution should be the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
As a matter of fact, MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli, who was the first to call for a Terror-Free Turkey process, called for the establishment of a commission consisting of 100 deputies under the name ’Terror-Free Turkey Strategy of the New Century; National Unity and Solidarity Commission“ in the Turkish Grand National Assembly on May 18, 2025.
On July 9, 2025, Abdullah Öcalan said in a statement, ’We are talking about a historical and fate-determining process. The voluntary laying down of arms as a general part of the process and the work of the comprehensive commission to be established by law and authorized by the Turkish Grand National Assembly are important.“.
In other words, the CHP's persistent policy of ‘Parliament is the address for the solution” had this time become a policy accepted by all interlocutors.
CHP Chairman Özgür Özel at his party's group meeting immediately after Devlet Bahçeli's call on October 22 “Mr. Devlet raised his hand. I am raising my hand, Mr. Devlet, I am also offering a state to the Kurds. I am offering all Kurds who do not feel that they fully belong to the state of the Republic of Turkey to be the owners of the state of the Republic of Turkey.” and announced the CHP's full support to the process.
As a matter of fact, following the reactions from within the party and its periphery, after successive meetings on whether to give members to the commission established in the Parliament, the decision was taken to give members to the commission.
In the final stage, it decided not to include a member in the delegation to be sent to İmralı to meet Öcalan.
Detained IBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu also supported the CHP's decision in a statement two days after the decision was announced.
So let's come to the question in the title. Did Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu criticize the CHP's İmralı decision or did he say something else in his video?
In answering this question, we note that “The Republican People's Party gives direction to the state.” It is important to underline this statement.
The message to the CHP leadership is not to assume a passive and reactionary role in this process, but to be in a position to guide and steer the process on the most important issue for the country, not just to assume the role assigned to it, as it has done in the past.
Let's recall that the CHP leadership and Özgür Özel were asked whether they would be members of the commission to go to İmralı. “AKP should first explain its decision” they answered.
After the AKP's approval of the İmralı delegation, it was decided not to include any members in the delegation.
In fact, this is exactly what Kılıçdaroğlu's statement points to.
The CHP should be in a position to create options and force its interlocutors to choose one of them, not a party that has to accept or reject the options that come its way.
‘There will be those who will say, ’For this, the CHP must come to power'.
The CHP was not in power when the solution process was brought to the floor of the Parliament.
Ensuring a step forward on the EYT issue,
The one that gave Eid bonuses to pensioners,
3600 additional indicators,
The one that gave tenure to subcontracted workers,
Abolished the TRT share in electricity bills,
The CHP, which canceled the interest on KYK debts, was not in power either.
Most importantly, the CHP, which had prevented the March 1 parliamentary resolution from passing, was not in power either.
The CHP, which has repeatedly demonstrated that results can be achieved in the opposition through effective politics rather than efficiency, is trapped in the politics of reaction because it has reset its past.
If this process is, as some say, ‘a political step taken by Erdoğan to extend his political life and to be elected president once again’, what is the CHP doing in this process?
If, on the contrary, this process is a state policy initiated to solve Turkey's most important problem and to eliminate internal and external threats, the CHP's path should be determined in line with the interests of the country and its own principles, not according to the steps taken by the AKP.
The only argument of the embarrassed liberals and political neophytes who accuse Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of being ‘in cahoots with the government’ is the thesis that “AKP=State”.
Kılıçdaroğlu, on the other hand, sends a message as an actor who looks beyond this shallow perspective and knows the ‘state’ and has fought the government for years under the most difficult conditions.
The aim of those calling for Kılıçdaroğlu's expulsion after this message is to manipulate a CHP that turns a deaf ear to the voice of common sense and experience as a party of daily activities.
Because tomorrow they will find another structure in which to nest and will continue to express ideas that seem quite original to them.
The article is long.
We will analyze Kılıçdaroğlu's messages on the corruption investigation in the next article.