Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu MP
Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 May 2010
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ahmet Davutoğlu
Preceded by	Deniz Baykal
Leader of the Republican People's Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 May 2010
Preceded by	Deniz Baykal
Vice President of Socialist International
In office 21 August 2012 – 13 December 2014
President	George Papandreou
Country	Turkey
Preceded by	Deniz Baykal
Succeeded by	Umut Oran
Member of the Grand National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 November 2002
Constituency	İstanbul (II) (2002, 2007, 2011) İzmir (II) (Jun 2015, Nov 2015)
Personal details
Born	(1948-12-17) 17 December 1948 Ballıca, Turkey
Political party	Republican People's Party
Spouse(s)	Sevim Kılıçdaroğlu
Children	Aslı Zeynep Kerem
Alma mater	Gazi University
Religion	Alevi Islam[1]
Website	Official site

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (pronounced [keˈmal kɯɫɯtʃˈdaɾoːɫu]; born 17 December 1948) is a Turkish politician. He is leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and has been Leader of the Main Opposition in Turkey since 2010. He served as a Member of Parliament for İstanbul's second electoral district from 2002 to 2015 and as an MP for İzmir's second electoral district as of 7 June 2015.

Before entering politics, Kılıçdaroğlu was a civil servant and served as the President of the Social Insurance Institution (SSK) from 1992 to 1996 and again from 1997 to 1999. He was elected to Parliament in the 2002 general election and became the CHP's parliamentary group leader. In the 2009 local elections, he was nominated as the CHP candidate for the Mayor of İstanbul and lost to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) with 37% of the vote, where the candidate from the Justice and Development Party got 44.71% of the votes. He was elected deputy chairman of the Socialist International on August 31, 2012.^[2]

After Deniz Baykal resigned as the party's leader in 2010, Kılıçdaroğlu announced his candidacy and was unanimously elected unopposed as the leader of the CHP. He was seen as likely to breathe new life into the CHP.^[3] Although his party saw a subsequent increase in its share of the vote, Kılıçdaroğlu has failed to win any elections.

Early life

Kılıçdaroğlu was born on December 17, 1948 in Ballıca village of Nazımiye district in Tunceli Province, eastern Turkey^[4] to Kamer, a clerk-recorder of deeds and his wife Yemuş. He was the fourth of seven children.^[5] His father was among thousands of exiled Alevis following the failed Dersim Rebellion.^[6]

According to İdris Gürsoy, his family belonged to the Cebeligiller clan of the Kureyşan tribe and Zaza^[7] origin, but Kılıçdaroğlu said his background is Turkmen.^[8] His father changed their family name in the 1950s from originally Karabulut to Kılıçdaroğlu since all the people in the village they lived in had the same family name.^[5]

Kemal continued his primary and secondary education in various places like Erciş, Tunceli, Genç and Elazığ. He was educated in economics at the Ankara Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences (now Gazi University), from which he graduated in 1971. During his youth days, he earned his living by selling goods.^[5]

Professional career

After university, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu entered the Ministry of Finance as a junior account specialist in 1971. He was later promoted to accountant and was sent to France for additional professional training. In 1983, he was appointed deputy director general of the Revenues Department in the same ministry. At that time he worked closely with Prime Minister Turgut Özal. In 1991, Kılıçdaroğlu became director-general of the Social Security Organization for Artisans and Self-Employed (Bağ-Kur). The following year he was appointed director-general of the Social Security Organization (SSK).^[5][9]

In 1994, Kılıçdaroğlu was named "Civil Servant of the Year" by the weekly periodical Ekonomik Trend.^[5]

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu retired from the Social Security Organization in January 1999. Kılıçdaroğlu taught at the Hacettepe University and chaired the Specialized Commission on the Informal Economy within the framework of the preparation of the Eighth Five-Year Development Plan. He also acted as a member of the Executive Board of İş Bank.^[10]

Early political career

Member of Parliament

Kılıçdaroğlu during a public appearance in Ankara (April 12, 2011)

In 1999, Kılıçdaroğlu was often referred to as the 'star of the Democratic Left Party (DSP)'.^[11] It was claimed that he would be a DSP candidate in the upcoming 1999 general election (in which the DSP came first).^[12] However, no such candidacy was put forward. Instead, during his chairmanship of Social Security Organization, he was invited by the leader of the CHP Deniz Baykal to join his party. Kılıçdaroğlu accepted the invitation.^[5]

Following the 2002 general election, he entered the parliament as a deputy from Istanbul. In the 2007 general election, he was re-elected to parliament. He became deputy speaker of his party's parliamentary group.^[5]

Kılıçdaroğlu's efforts to uncover malpractice among high-ranking Justice and Development Party (AKP) politicians carried him to headlines in the Turkish media. Two deputy chairmen of the ruling AKP, Şaban Dişli and Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, resigned from their respective positions in the party following television debates with Kılıçdaroğlu. Furthermore, he publicly accused the AKP-affiliated Mayor of Ankara, Melih Gökçek, of complicity in a corruption scandal relating to the "Deniz Feneri" charity based in Germany.^[5]

2009 İstanbul mayoral candidate

Kılıçdaroğlu was announced as the CHP's mayoral candidate for the 2009 local elections by the party leader Deniz Baykal on 22 January 2009. Kılıçdaroğlu announced that he would run his campaign based on clean politics, vowing to open cases of corruption against the serving incumbent, AKP mayor Kadir Topbaş. Claiming that he would work for the workers of İstanbul, he also challenged Topbaş to a televised live debate.^[13]

In the election, Kılıçdaroğlu was beaten by Topbaş with 37% of the votes to Topbaş's 44.7%.

Election to the CHP leadership

Long-time leader of the CHP, Deniz Baykal, resigned on May 10, 2010 following a video tape scandal. Kılıçdaroğlu announced his candidacy for the position on May 17, five days before an upcoming party convention. According to reports, the party was divided over the leadership issue, with its Central Executive Board insisting that Baykal retake the position.^[14] But after Kılıçdaroğlu received the support of 77 of his party's 81 provincial chairpersons,^[15] Baykal decided not to run for re-election.^[16]

For a candidacy to become official, CHP by-laws require the support of 20% of convention delegates.^[17] At the party convention, which started on May 22, 2010, Kılıçdaroğlu's candidacy received the signatures of 1,246 out of the 1,250 delegates, which set a new record for the CHP.^[18]

In view of this overwhelming support, the presidium of the party convention decided to move the election, initially scheduled for Sunday, forward to Saturday. As now expected, Kılıçdaroğlu was elected as party chairman. The election was unanimous, with 1,189 votes (not counting eight votes that were found to be invalid).^[19][20]

Leader of the Opposition

Kılıçdaroğlu took office as the Leader of the Main Opposition on 22 May 2010 by virtue of leading the second largest political party in the Grand National Assembly. Many media commentators and speculators predicted that Kılıçdaroğlu would breathe new life into the CHP after consecutive election defeats under Baykal's leadership.

2010 constitutional referendum

Kılıçdaroğlu's first campaign as the CHP leader was the constitutional referendum held on 12 September 2010. Although the initial voting process in Parliament (that would determine the proposals that were voted on in the subsequent referendum) had began under Baykal's leadership, Kılıçdaroğlu employed a tactic of boycotting the parliamentary process. Since a constitutional reform proposal required 330 votes to be sent to a referendum (the governing AKP, which had submitted the proposals, held 336 seats), the parliamentary approval of all of the government's constitutional reforms was mathematically possible regardless of how the CHP voted. Thus, the AKP's proposed constitutional reforms, which included changes to the Turkish Judiciary, were sent for approval in a referendum on 12 September 2010.

Kılıçdaroğlu not only campaigned for a 'no' vote against the proposals, but also sent the Parliamentary voting process to court over alleged technical irregularities. The CHP subsequently sent the proposals to court over alleged violations of the separation of powers in the proposed changes. the Constitutional Court eventually ruled against the CHP. Kılıçdaroğlu, along with members of minor opposition parties, argued that the proposed changes are an attempt to politicise the judiciary and further increase the control of the AKP over neutral state institutions. The referendum proposals were nonetheless accepted by 57.9% of voters, with 42.1% voting against.^[21]

2011 general election

Kılıçdaroğlu on a visit to Washington D.C., December 2013

The 2011 general election was the first general election in which Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu participated as the leader of Republican People's Party (CHP). The former CHP leader Deniz Baykal resigned from his post in May 2010 and left the CHP with 26% of the votes, according to opinion polls. Kılıçdaroğlu announced that he would resign from his post if he was not successful in the 2011 elections. He did not provide details as to what his criteria for success were.^[22] Over 3,500 people applied to run for the main opposition party in the June elections. Male candidates paid 3,000 Turkish Liras to submit an application; female candidates paid 2,000 while those with disabilities paid 500 liras.^[23] Among the candidates were former CHP leader Deniz Baykal and arrested Ergenekon suspects such as Mustafa Balbay and Mehmet Haberal.^[24]

The party held primary elections in 29 provinces. Making a clean break with the past, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu left his mark on the Republican People's Party's 435-candidate list, leaving off 78 current deputies as he sought to redefine and reposition the main opposition. The CHP's candidate list also included 11 politicians who were formerly part of center-right parties, such as the Motherland Party, the True Path Party and the Turkey Party. Center-right voters gravitated toward the AK Party when these other parties virtually collapsed after the 2002 elections. Key party figures that did not make it on to the list, criticised the CHP for making "a shift in axis."^[25]

Family life

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu married Selvi (unofficially Sevim) in 1974. The couple has a son, Kerem, two daughters, Aslı and Zeynep, and a granddaughter from Aslı's marriage.^[5] Some journals denoted his Alevi identity,^[26] however Kılıçdaroğlu didn't make a statement about his religious belief for a long time. In July 2011, he said "I always refused to do politics on ethnic identities and religion. I am an Alevi. Since when is it a crime to be Alevi in this country?".^[27]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

• Official website (Turkish)
• Official Facebook page
• Official Twitter account
• Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's biography at TBMM's website (Turkish)