Why did former CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu not withdraw in the 2nd round? 'At the request of a village head...'

Former CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu recounted the events that took place at the 38th CHP Congress.

When asked if he had any suggestions for the new leader Özgür Özel, Kılıçdaroğlu said, "I am not in a position to make suggestions. I want him to work, reach out to large masses, and grow the CHP. I am a member of our party and its former leader. Of course, everyone is striving for our party to come to power, and I will strive as well."

Speaking to Sözcü columnist Saygı Öztürk, Kılıçdaroğlu stated the following:

"I LEARNED IT WAS CLOSE TO EKREM BEY"

"Yes, I had a decision not to participate in the second round. I discussed this issue in a room with the Congress Chair, Ekrem İmamoğlu. I said, 'Let him call Özgür Bey as well, and I will even raise his hand.' However, before I even went to the general assembly hall, there is a Twitter account called @ekremedit, I believe. A tweet was posted from that account in a different tone, as if I were doing this under instruction. It was said that this Twitter account was close to Ekrem Bey."

"IT HURT ME DEEPLY"

"This tweet hurt me deeply. I mean, my brother, I am on my way to speak, and what comes out of our mouths is immediately on social media with a narrative as if I were fulfilling this under instruction. This bothered me a lot. Then I went there, and of course, other friends had read it too. There were people there shouting, 'Don't go, don't give up your candidacy.'"

A VILLAGE HEAD REQUESTED IT!

"None of those are very important, but what is important is that a village head who was an earthquake survivor was crying and said, 'If you withdraw from the candidacy, neither I nor my children will forgive you.' When they said that, of course, everything stops. I would not want to face a situation where a person says they will not forgive me. I later learned that the person was a village head. This development happened at the request of that village head. Two things happened one after another: that tweet and the village head who said, 'I will not forgive you.'"