Lütfü Savaş, the former Hatay mayor from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has filed a lawsuit seeking to annul his party’s 2023 congress.
Savaş argued that the will of the delegates had been “violated” and called for the dismissal of the party’s leadership.
Following his defeat to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the May 2023 presidential election, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu also lost the CHP leadership to Özgür Özel in the party congress held in November 2023. Özel, backed by Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and the “revisionist” faction, won the leadership amid calls for change within the party.
President Erdoğan recently described the congress as “shady,” implying that Özel’s victory was controversial. In response to these remarks, Kılıçdaroğlu urged the CHP leadership on February 7 to issue a statement.
Two days later, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office summoned Kılıçdaroğlu to testify as a witness in an investigation launched in January 2024. Many viewed both Erdoğan’s comments and the investigation as an attempt by the government to interfere in CHP affairs and influence its leadership through the judiciary.
These developments come amid increasing government pressure on CHP and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been targeted by judicial investigations. In response, CHP has been preparing to hold a party primary and position İmamoğlu as its presidential candidate.
Meanwhile, the new CHP leadership controversially re-nominated Lütfü Savaş as the party’s candidate for Hatay mayor in the March 2024 local elections. His candidacy sparked criticism, given that Hatay was one of the provinces hardest hit by the February 6, 2023 earthquakes. Many accused Savaş of failing to adequately prepare the city for such disasters during his tenure—two terms as metropolitan mayor of Hatay and one as mayor of Antakya district.
Ultimately, he lost the election to the ruling AKP’s candidate by a narrow margin of a few thousand votes.
