A delegate of the Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) testified in an investigation into corruption in the intraparty election of the party in 2023. Hatip Karaaslan, the witness, told prosecutors that delegates voted in favor of incumbent Chair Özgür Özel in exchange for cash.
Prosecutors have launched a probe into what media has dubbed shady dealings at the November election where Özel succeeded long-serving Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Allegations include handouts in the form of dollar bills to delegates to persuade them to vote for Özel, as well as free houses, cars and jobs at the CHP-run municipalities in return for votes. Özel has flatly denied accusations, but Karaaslan’s statement followed others, including a former mayor who confirmed rumors of payouts to delegates. E.Ç., another delegate, also shared social media posts about claims of bribery in the election.
Karaaslan, who served as a delegate for the CHP from the western city of Izmir, testified to prosecutors in the capital, Ankara, about the process leading to the intraparty election. He told prosecutors that he was open in his support for Kılıçdaroğlu. He said Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu sought to contact him around 20 days before the election, but he refused. “He sent me an envoy and asked to discuss the upcoming election. I rejected it, but he insisted,” he said.
Imamoğlu, a popular figure in CHP, is viewed as the architect of the victory of Özel and is known for secretly campaigning for an intraparty election to oust Kılıçdaroğlu. Kılıçdaroğlu has found himself in a tight spot after he ran against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2023 presidential elections and lost in a runoff.
He said that he was staying in a hotel with other CHP delegates from Izmir in the capital, Ankara, ahead of the election when a delegate he was familiar with sought to meet him. “M.K. told me that I would be paid if I voted for Özel. He told me that Özel would personally meet me if I accepted the offer. I rejected and asked M.K. why he stopped supporting Kılıçdaroğlu he had supported in the past. He told me that he had his own interests and advised me to take up the offer,” Karaaslan told prosecutors.
“M.K. told me he would be paid TL 1 million and an extra TL 300,000 for each of the six delegates he convinced. He claimed some delegates were paid far higher than this amount,” he said.
Karaaslan claimed that M.K. was “turned” by incumbent Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay to vote for Özel, adding that Tugay was also behind payments and other offers to delegates from Izmir for voting for Özel. “Delegates were talking about Özel and Tugay were handing out cash to buy votes for Özel. I know that the entire branch of the CHP in (the southeastern province) Şanlıurfa and some delegates in Izmir, Gaziantep, Mardin, Ağrı, Konya, Niğde and Muğla switched sides to Özel in exchange for money and other offers,” he told prosecutors. He said Ö.T., one of the delegates from Izmir, was now serving as a member of the Higher Disciplinary Board of the CHP and claimed that he heard Ö.T. delivered suitcases of cash to some delegates.
Karaaslan was also accused by a businessman in Istanbul of providing cash to buy votes of delegates for Özel. He said that the businessman he identified as A.I.A. was the real source of money, noting that the man had already been awarded tenders by the majority of municipalities across Türkiye.
He also said the election had other irregularities, such as a suspicious count of votes. “Somehow, all invalid votes were registered as votes for Kılıçdaroğlu. Özel and his supporters knew that they did not have enough support among delegates and could not win the election properly. So, they cooperated with others and sought to convince voters to elect Özel, either by paying them or helping them to obtain other gains,” he said.
Karaaslan did not elaborate, but Lütfü Savaş, a former mayor of the southern province Hatay for the CHP, has said in a petition for a lawsuit on the election that some delegates were employed at municipalities or handed iPhones and tablet computers in exchange for votes. Karaaslan also filed a separate lawsuit for the cancellation of the election.
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