In Turkish political lingo, the olağanüstü kongre is a party’s most supreme decision-making body.
It draws delegates from all 81 provinces and the districts within. Each delegate must be confirmed so this can’t happen overnight.
That’s why the CHP is meeting on 6 April, and not any time sooner.
Congresses like these can be called to settle leadership questions. A lot of rumours are circulating, primarily in pro-government media, that former leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will use the gathering to stage a comeback.
It was in a party congress in 2023 that Kılıçdaroğlu lost the CHP leadership to Özgür Özel after 14 years at the helm. It divided the party somewhat: most of the movement swung behind Özel, but a pro-Kılıçdaroğlu minority remained a critical voice.
Kılıçdaroğlu has hinted several times since that wants the leadership back – and President Erdoğan has often tried to exploit the divisions, even suggesting Kılıçdaroğlu’s leadership was unlawfully taken from him.
Despite what the pro-govt media says, there’s no suggestion – yet – that Kılıçdaroğlu is planning a bid for the leadership. There’s little sign he would win if he did.
All we’ve heard from him so far is this post praising Özel for calling the congress.
So if not a leadership election, what’s the extraordinary congress for? There could plausibly be a substantive decision, like a move to boycott parliament.
More likely is that it will be used for a symbolic declaration of solidarity with Ekrem İmamoğlu.
But that has its uses too.
It’s a useful tool to demonstrate party unity – to critics both inside and outside the party. The Mayor of Istanbul’s arrest has helped cover up cracks in the opposition that the government may have wanted to exploit.
Take the CHP’s Ankara mayor Mansur Yavaş, who also has designs for the presidency.
He opposed the CHP’s primary process to select its presidential candidate, did not stand and did not rule out standing as an independent.
He’s now going to vote for İmamoğlu in Sunday’s primary.
Take the leaders of other parties, from the nationalist İYİ and Zafer to the pro-Kurdish DEM, who have publicly backed the CHP since the İmamoğlu arrest. Take the students who pushed through police lines to stage demonstrations. The opposition, for now, has rallied.
Ekrem İmamoğlu will be the only name on the ballot paper in Sunday’s primary, when CHP members turn out to pick their candidate for president. It will be a show of force by Turkey’s opposition party.
The congress in a fortnight will aim to sustain that momentum.
There is another aspect to all this: prosecutors have launched court proceedings over the 2023 congress that elected Özel, claiming delegates were offered bribes to vote against Kılıçdaroğlu.
Last month a court rejected a bid to remove Özel from office pending an investigation. But the main case continues.
The CHP leadership has rejected allegations of wrongdoing in the 2023 vote, and have claimed the process could be used a pretext to unseat them. The messages coming out of pro-government circles has helped fuel their suspicions here.
Take this from a deputy leader of the MHP – Erdoğan’s governing partners. He says the CHP’s upcoming congress is illegitimate because the 2023 congress is now in question.
An unsurprising view, perhaps, but it’s clear how things could get very ugly.
