Özgür Özel on Nov. 29 was reelected as the head of Türkiye's main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for the third time this year, receiving all 1,333 valid votes at the party’s 39th ordinary convention.
"This is our last convention in opposition; we will hold our 40th convention in power,” Özel said in his thank-you speech at a sports complex in the capital Ankara. Twenty-four votes were declared invalid.
The congress, held under the banner “Now is the Time for Power,” coincided with an intensified CHP push for early elections, although national polls are not scheduled until 2028.
"There is no turning back from the fight against the established order. There is no room for those who are afraid on this path. There is no room for those who collaborate with the established order, for those who are the voices of the dark order, for those who seek positions not assigned by this party elsewhere," Özel said.
"Today is the day to object to this dark order. Either you will sit at home in your pajamas and wait for your turn, or you will go out into the streets and repel this coup with us."
The congress featured a video message created using AI by CHP presidential candidate and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who remains in pretrial detention on corruption charges he and the party say are politically motivated.
In the message, İmamoğlu renewed the party’s intention to restore a parliamentary system and reiterated support for the country's ongoing peace initiative "for a parliamentary solution to the Kurdish issue."
On the final day of the congress, Nov. 30, elections were scheduled for the party’s top council and high disciplinary board.
Özel’s key list included more than 30 new names, including economic officials Güldem Atabay, Kerim Rota and Ozan Bingöl, newly joined CHP lawmakers Evrim Rızvanoğlu and Salih Uzun, law professor Şule Özsoy Boyunsuz, former Ambassador to Nicosia Ömer Kaya Türkmen, artist Tolga Sağ and Serkan Özcan, a member of İmamoğlu’s working team.
Delegates approved a fully revised party program on Nov. 28, the first comprehensive rewrite in 17 years. Released under the slogan “Strong Citizens, Secure Future, Winning Türkiye,” the document outlines CHP governance plans in four areas: Democracy and justice, economic development, the social state, and foreign policy and security.
Party officials said it is intended not only to modernize the CHP’s agenda but also as a blueprint for a future government.
Meanwhile, a legal challenge to the CHP’s 2023 convention continues in court after an Ankara judge rejected claims that alleged procedural flaws invalidated the gathering. The party held two additional extraordinary conventions earlier this year and reelected Özel each time to mitigate risk from the lawsuit.
