Breaking News: Özgür Özel receives all valid votes at the 22nd Extraordinary Congress of the CHP

The Republican People's Party (CHP) held a critical congress in Ankara today. The decision for an extraordinary congress was made due to the possibility of a ruling of absolute nullity in the congress lawsuit on September 15.

The 22nd Extraordinary Congress, where 1,127 delegates are expected to vote, is being held at 10:00 AM at the Yenimahalle Municipality Nazım Hikmet Culture Center. The number of delegates who voted in the previous congress was 1,368.

NO SEAT RESERVED FOR KILIÇDAROĞLU

Photographs of the CHP's imprisoned mayors were placed in the Nazım Hikmet Culture Center. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was invited by Özgür Özel via a phone call, did not attend the congress. According to Sözcü TV, no seat was reserved for Kılıçdaroğlu.

In the extraordinary congress where CHP Chairman Özgür Özel is the sole candidate, Istanbul provincial delegates, as well as members of the Party Assembly (PM) and the High Disciplinary Board (YDK), will not be able to vote.

We are holding our 22nd Extraordinary 'No to Coups and Trustees' Congress. https://t.co/HkbPtYidyr

— CHP ???? (@herkesicinCHP) September 21, 2025

According to the party bylaws, a vote of confidence will be held for the 60-member Party Assembly and the 15-member High Disciplinary Board before the chairmanship election. Following the vote, the election of party organs will be conducted using the block list method.

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL IS THE SOLE CANDIDATE

While it is noteworthy that the congress is being held despite legal obstacles, no rival is expected to emerge against Özgür Özel. Therefore, no radical change in the party administration is anticipated.

THE 'A-TEAM' WILL RENEW ITS MANDATE

Ballot boxes will be set up for the chairmanship and Party Assembly memberships. As the sole candidate, Özel will enter the elections using the block list method. In this context, it is stated that the "A-Team" formed at the 21st Extraordinary Congress will be maintained.

NO SPECTATORS ADMITTED TO THE HALL

Due to the capacity of the hall, no spectators were admitted to the CHP's 22nd Extraordinary Congress. Special sections were prepared for members of the press in the foyer area.

MURAT EMİR ELECTED CONGRESS CHAIR

Entering the hall where the congress was held at 10:03 AM, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel officially started the congress following a moment of silence and the singing of the National Anthem.

Taking the podium, CHP leader Özgür Özel held a vote for the Congress Chairmanship, with Murat Emir being elected as the Congress Chair.

NOTABLE MESSAGES FROM MURAT EMİR

CHP's Murat Emir began his speech by celebrating Özel's birthday, saying, "I hope your new year brings health and brings power to the CHP."

In his speech, Emir made the following remarks:

"We held more than 50 rallies. You cannot stop the CHP. We will continue our struggle. Just as Atatürk rebelled against the Palace, we are rebelling too. We reject the appointment of trustees. Long live the Republic, long live the Republican People's Party!"

Emir also "The first congress of the CHP was in Sivas; the Ali Kemals did not win that day, and they will not win today either" he remarked, drawing attention.

Continuing his speech by saying, "They will leave just as they came. Long live Turkey's bright future" Emir concluded with the words, "Either all of us together, or none of us" he stated.

MESSAGE FROM EKREM İMAMOĞLU

During the congress, a message from the imprisoned Mayor of Istanbul and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu was also read.

The highlights from İmamoğlu's message are as follows:

"Valued congress delegates of the Republican People's Party, my dear fellow travelers, I greet you with love and respect. I embrace each and every one of you with longing.

We are those who wholeheartedly believe in the great leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the fundamental principles and values of the Republic he founded. The ultimate goal of the political struggle to which we have dedicated our lives is to establish a humane and fair order where we will carry the responsibility of this beautiful country together and share all its blessings fraternally.

This fair order, which will rise upon a true Republic and full democracy, will be the guarantee of justice and freedom, prosperity and security for everyone, everywhere. An order of justice and freedom, where there is no power above the national will and where administrators know their place before the citizens, is our nation's aspiration and our sacred duty. This government, which knows very well that it can never win an election again under normal conditions and that it will disappear in the face of the nation's silent rebellion, has pinned all its hopes on the weakening, division, and fragmentation of the Republican People's Party."

"THIS GOVERNMENT OPPRESSES EVERYONE EXCEPT A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE"

"To achieve this, it knows no bounds in lawlessness and tyranny. Every day, it tries to hinder our path with new traps. We, the members of the Republican People's Party who are subjected to all of this, are resisting tirelessly together with our very valuable chairman, all the boards and organizations of our party, our deputies, our mayors and municipal council members, our voters, and the millions who have pinned their hopes on us. Not only us, but all dissidents are under pressure and oppression. This government, which has lost its sense of justice, cannot tolerate the nation having the final say, and has no intention of competing fairly with its rivals at the ballot box, is literally oppressing everyone except for a handful of people.

It oppresses with the poverty and unemployment it causes; it oppresses with the inequality and injustice it creates. But if the oppressor has tyranny, the oppressed has dignity, a heart, a mind, and hope. As Aşık Mahsuni Şerif said, if the oppressor has tyranny, the oppressed has God. Those who say there is no salvation alone, those who want for others what they want for themselves, will certainly win. Justice and freedom, unity and brotherhood will certainly win. I have not doubted this for a moment. Because the Republican People's Party exists, because you exist, and because this noble nation has a pure conscience and a very deep common sense. A Republican People's Party that has become one heart and one fist is the guarantee of our Republic and our democracy."

"WE ARE THE COURAGE OF THIS COUNTRY, WE ARE ITS FUTURE"

"When we are one and whole, no power can ignore the conscience and will of the nation to reverse the course of history. That history was written in Samsun, Erzurum, Sivas, Ankara, and on fronts across the country. That history was written with immense strides in progress, development, and enlightenment that created a country out of nothing. That history was written with the principle that sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation. We will continue to write history together. We will never stop until we bring this country to justice, freedom, prosperity, and abundance by growing our determination and resolve for the struggle every single day."

This is a requirement of the duty, discipline, and inspiration we received from Atatürk. This is a requirement of our debt to the homeland and our love for the nation. I thank each of you from the bottom of my heart for your determined stance and courageous struggle in this cause, and I wish our congress to be auspicious. Do not forget, we are the hope of this country. We are the courage of this country. We are the future of this country.

We are the Republic, we are the Republican People's Party. With my love and respect...

Ekrem İmamoğlu, Silivri Prison."

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL AT THE PODIUM

Following the reading of İmamoğlu's message and the congress agenda, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel took the podium.

Highlights from Özel's speech are as follows:

"These are the days when we recognize our friends and our enemies... We have become masters at breaking the stone. I would like to say this to our delegates who rushed to notaries to sign in order to neutralize a threat: We are here for a struggle, to resist a great injustice and to lock in once again, welcome... Greetings to all our mayors who are not among us and are held in dungeons."

"WE DID NOT SEE POWER FOR 47 YEARS BUT WE DID NOT RESENT THE NATION"

"This party is the party of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded this country; it is the party of İsmet İnönü, who called the result 'my greatest victory' when he handed over power to the Democrat Party upon the nation's request in 1950."

We never believed in anything other than the Republic; there were times we did not see power for 47 years, but we did not resent the nation. The nation, which kept the AKP in power for 23 years, made a different decision in 2024. That night, we said, 'We are the winners of the election, there is no loser.' The test of democracy is passed not when you win, but when you lose. When the ruling party lost for the first time, they showed with their actions that they could not pass the democracy test. They showed that they are not democrats, but those who use democracy."

"AKP'S STRUGGLE WITH JUDICIAL ARMS"

"Seeing that it was losing at the ballot box, the AKP found its 'Judicial Arms.' In the process that began with the arrest of Ahmet Özer, we were either going to surrender or resist. We did not surrender; we stood up with you and began the struggle. Against this, the dark structure before us moved up its planned coup attempt. They pressed the button on the day Mayor Ekrem announced the primary for the presidential candidacy. By its nature, a coup is made against the government, but this coup was carried out by today's government against tomorrow's government."

A 'TRUMP' REFERENCE TO ERDOĞAN

"This coup was not carried out with tanks or rifles. This coup is a coup against the next government. This government is a government that has received approval from Trump. The CHP is the man of this nation, its child... Tayyip Erdoğan is Trump's man. 186 days have passed, we are here, face to face; where are the arms of the octopus, where is the big radish?"

I am addressing Erdoğan. We are among the people, where are you? In this process, whoever is right and moral, the nation stands and will stand by them. The energy of the majority is with us. We are facing a government that is aging, tired, blinded by arrogance, and has not been good for this country for 23 years. They have not been good for any of us; when they lost the support of the nation, they got off the democracy train. The order established is not the nation's order, it is the AKP's dark order. There is no prosperity in this dark order!"

"TRUMP'S SON HELD A SECRET MEETING WITH ERDOĞAN"

"The money spent for the March 19 coup is 60 billion dollars. The money spent on March 19 is 30 times the support paid to farmers. They spent 120 times the support to be given to the minimum wage. If this money had been spent on the nation, there would be no hungry or poor people left. With the March 19 coup, the stock market fell by 9 percent, it fell by 5.5 percent in June, a trustee was appointed on September 2, and it fell by 6 percent; when the trustee was not appointed to the headquarters on September 15, the stock market rose. While Palestine is in this state, Trump's son held a secret meeting with Erdoğan. Our side denied it, but American sources confirmed it."

"CHP ENGAGES IN POLITICS IN THE HEART OF THIS NATION"

"Erdoğan does not have a sensitivity for Palestine, but a necessity for Trump to maintain his power. He is conducting politics centered on Trump, not the nation. He invites us to engage in politics in Ankara, to draw a framework, and to stay within it. He forgets one thing. They told Atatürk to stay in Istanbul too; he put his death warrant around his neck, went to Samsun, and saved the country. The CHP is centered in Anatolia; it engages in politics in the heart of this nation!"

RALLY FROM CHP FOR PALESTINE

"Before the meeting to be held in America on Thursday, at our 56th rally that we will hold on Wednesday evening, we invite our entire party, all our party members, everyone who stands in solidarity with Palestine, and all political parties to show solidarity in front of the Palestinian Embassy in Eyüpsultan, by taking our Palestinian flags alongside the Turkish flags we always carry, instead of party flags."

"I HAVE A THANK YOU AND A PIECE OF GOOD NEWS"

"The hostility of the government is not directed at the CHP, but at the idea of leaving power. What is under threat in Turkey now is equal citizenship. They want a Turkey without elections and without ballot boxes. We must close ranks; being good is not enough. One must be brave. I have a thank you and a piece of good news for this hall. Last year, with a great consensus and the participation of our 81 provincial chairmen, we drafted our party charter. We designated the week of September 4-9 as our founding week to be celebrated every year. This year, while the AKP was attacking our provincial building on September 4-9, our executives connected via Zoom to prepare our program. We have prepared how we will govern Turkey. We will explain it under 4 main headings. It will be the CHP's government program."

"They say, 'Both the complainant and the one complained about are CHP members...' The one complaining is not a CHP member; they somehow found their tools and carried out an operation with the judicial arm they hold. The CHP is a whole against the attack; on the other side are a handful of people in the arms of the judiciary. They called for this party to fall out with itself, they played with its nerves. Those in this hall gave their signatures within a day and a half. We are resisting together. You have thwarted their plans, I thank you."

ANNOUNCED THE GOOD NEWS

"In the last 10 days, 5 national polls have been published. We are ahead in all of them. We are improving in every poll. Do you also see the support the party receives from the nation in the field?"

ÖZEL REQUESTED A "VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE"

"We will hold a vote of confidence. Normally, you have always stood behind us. But if you give a vote of confidence, we will go home without holding an election. For this reason, I request that you all pave the way for an election with a vote of no confidence. Give a vote of no confidence to the conspiracy that has been set up!"

NO CANDIDATE RAN AGAINST ÖZGÜR ÖZEL

Following Özel's speech, Murat Emir, referring to the CHP's party charter, explained the "vote of no confidence" that must be held for the election of the Chairman, the Party Assembly (PM), and the High Disciplinary Board (YDK).

Emir announced that all three votes, conducted by show of hands, were accepted by majority as an "expression of no confidence." Following this vote, a 15-minute period was granted for general chairmanship nominations.

At the end of the period, Manisa Deputy Özgür Özel was recorded as the sole candidate for the CHP chairmanship.

BLOCK LIST ACCEPTED

Furthermore, the motion for the Party Assembly (PM) and High Disciplinary Committee (YDK) elections to be held via "block list" was also accepted by majority vote.

CHAIRMANSHIP VOTE HAS BEGUN

Subsequently, delegates began casting their votes for the chairmanship at the established ballot boxes. The voting process for the chairmanship at the CHP's Extraordinary Convention has commenced. 

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL CAST HIS VOTE

Özgür Özel cast his vote at the 22nd Extraordinary "No to Coups and Trustees" Convention of the CHP.

"GOODNESS WILL TRIUMPH OVER EVIL"

After casting his vote, Özgür Özel made the following assessment:

"As I expressed to the delegates in the hall, the party is under attack and they are trying every method. Our lawyers and administrators are taking the most appropriate measures against this. The election judiciary has confirmed every time how meticulously we have worked on this issue to date, including with the decisions it made as recently as Friday." 

With the holding of this congress, all those arguments—most of which were already baseless and rejected by the election judiciary—are now disappearing. We will quickly move toward our regular congress, and in a month and a half, we will hold the congress where the CHP will use an open list system to appoint the cadres that will lead the party to power in a spirit of great unity and solidarity. Goodness will triumph over evil."

"You saw the enthusiasm in the hall, you saw the excitement. The party is experiencing its most unified, most motivated, and most integrated process with its grassroots in its history. While the AK Party says, 'We have nothing to do with this,' the party showed them; everyone is on one side, and the AK Party judiciary is on the other. The struggle continues, but in the end, one must say this: Coups never bring victory to coup plotters; they eventually lead to their defeat. Those who resist the coup win." 

We are resisting the March 19 coup. That is why the nation is behind us. The reason the nation stood behind Erdoğan on July 15 was not because of his looks, but because of the respect they have for democracy and the ballot box. They did not surrender to the coup plotters. But Erdoğan has interpreted the will shown against the coup as an infinite loyalty to his own person. However, when the 'coup plotter' is Erdoğan, this time the nation stands against him and on the side of the victim."

STATEMENT FROM MANSUR YAVAŞ AFTER CASTING HIS VOTE

Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mansur Yavaş cast his vote for the chairmanship election at the 22nd Extraordinary Congress of the CHP, held at the Nazım Hikmet Culture Center.

After casting his vote, Yavaş said, "May it be auspicious. Since there was only one candidate, it was easy. I hope it will lead to the unity and integrity of the party." he said.

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL RE-ELECTED AS CHAIRMAN

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel was re-elected as Chairman after receiving all 835 valid votes.

News Source: 12punto