Eyes on Kilicdaroglu

The name of Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul deputy Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who was the party’s mayoral candidate for ?stanbul in 2009 and was promoted by some media outlets as the strongest candidate to succeed CHP’s long-time leader Deniz Baykal, has been heard frequently in recent days as the figure who will assume CHP leadership in the wake of a video scandal that led to Baykal’s resignation last week.

Kilicdaroglu has not yet announced that he will run for the party leadership at the CHP general congress on May 22. Meeting with Baykal last week, Kilicdaroglu failed to receive Baykal’s endorsement since the former leader of the CHP told him he was willing to support any candidate supported by a consensus and who lives up to the culture, philosophy and recent history of the party. It is very evident that Kilicdaroglu was waiting for a stronger signal from Baykal for his possible leadership run. Now all eyes are on Kilicdaroglu to see whether he will challenge Baykal or suppress his desire to lead the party for the sake of not confronting Baykal.

Praising Kilicdaroglu’s efforts to get Baykal’s support and consent for his possible leadership bid and his efforts not to exploit the situation Baykal has fallen into due to his alleged sex tape scandal, Hürriyet’s Ahmet Hakan says there should be a limit to acting in such a decent way. “If you try to get the consent of Baykal, people will ask how one becomes a leader via the permission of someone.

If you keep the leadership issue in limbo and do not attack Baykal’s seat aggressively, people will think you are sluggish. If you avoid seizing the opportunity that emerged after Baykal’s resignation, people will think you are unable to take a risk,” Hakan tells Kilicdaroglu. In his view, there is very little time left for Kilicdaroglu to reveal his intention and will to run for CHP party leadership.

“Will Kilicdaroglu run for CHP leadership or not? It is known that Baykal mentioned neither Kilicdaroglu nor anyone else’s name for party leadership. No signal came from Baykal about the possible next leader of the party,” says Milliyet’s Fikret Bila, who comments that whoever wants to run for CHP leadership, including Kilicdaroglu, has to test the waters of the CHP, get support from the party and then announce his/her candidacy.

Because of this, he says, Kilicdaroglu can announce his candidacy only if he can ensure a consensus within the CHP and get the support of Önder Sav, who has been the secretary-general of the CHP for years, as well as Sav’s fellows within the party. Referring to the backdoors of the CHP, he says the most difficult thing for Kilicdaroglu to achieve is to secure the endorsement of Sav and his supporters.

 “Since no signal came from Baykal in support of Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy, Kilicdaroglu will make his own decision about whether to run for CHP leadership after his search for a consensus within the CHP,” says Bila.

F Disli Zibak reported for Todays Zaman

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Tags: chp, kemal kilicdaroglu, kilicdaroglu

Category: National