CHP's Tanju Özcan once said, 'If Erdoğan is elected, I will not be a candidate in 2024'

As the Republican People's Party (CHP) accelerates its local election efforts, its mayoral candidates are becoming clear. The CHP Party Assembly, which met yesterday (December 14) at 5:00 PM, discussed the mayoral candidates.

In the vote held at the Party Assembly, Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş were officially determined as the party's mayoral candidates. The candidate for Balıkesir was named as former CHP Deputy Chairman Ahmet Akın, and the candidate for Bursa as former Nilüfer Mayor Mustafa Bozbey.

Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, one of the controversial figures of the Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu era, was also determined as the candidate for Bolu. The words spoken by Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan before the 2023 elections have become a topic of discussion following his re-nomination.

"I WILL NOT BE A CANDIDATE," HE HAD SAID

Özcan's words in a video that went viral on social media drew backlash.

In the program he attended on Haber Global, Özcan says, "I am saying this assertively. I have never flip-flopped in my life. If Mr. Erdoğan is elected again in 2023—I don't believe for a second that he will be—I will not be a candidate for Bolu Mayor in 2024, even if I had a 100 percent chance of being elected."

Özcan expressed his thanks as soon as he learned of his candidacy

However, it was observed that Tanju Özcan, who was decided to be nominated again in the local elections, thanked the CHP as soon as he received the news. In a post on his social media account, Özcan said, "I have just learned with pleasure that our CHP Party Assembly members have declared me the Bolu Mayoral candidate. I thank the changing CHP cadres... Greetings to the Atatürkists, the patriots, and the Turkish nationalists who are the guarantors of the nation-state."