CHP leader urges voters to address economic challenges

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel has called on citizens frustrated by the high cost of living to vote for change.

His remarks came amid a verbal exchange with ruling People’s Alliance partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli.

Bahçeli had previously dismissed Özel’s assertion that Türkiye is undergoing the worst economic crisis in history as “crazy nonsense.”

“I will just say this... Those who voted for the People’s Alliance, if you are not experiencing the harshest conditions in history, if you are in a good mood while shopping with the money you have at the grocery store or market, vote for Mr. Devlet,” Özel said in response during his party’s group meeting yesterday.

“But if there is a hole at the bottom of the string [shopping] bag, if you have a hard time walking past the butcher’s shop, if you do not see what Mr. Devlet says in your wallet, your place is not with the so-called nationalists, but the ‘Türkiye alliance’ that is concerned about the problems of this nation,” the CHP leader said.

In the last general election, CHP ran without forming any alliances but has since referred to its voter base as the “Türkiye alliance.”

Özel also criticized the government’s repeated assurances that inflation would decrease. “It’s the same story every month,” he said.

The CHP recently filed a criminal complaint against Türkiye’s official statistics agency, TÜİK.

The party’s deputy leader, Gamze Taşcıer, accused the agency of data concealment and abuse of public office.

She claimed the agency’s actions had caused financial losses to workers, civil servants and pensioners.

CHP leader Özgür Özel addresses his party’s members during a weekly group meeting in the parliament in the capital Ankara yesterday.