Mavi Boncuk |
Özgür Özel[1] became the 8th Chairman of CHP, the first political party of the Republic of Turkey, after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, İsmet İnönü, Bülent Ecevit, Deniz Baykal, Hikmet Çetin, Altan Öymen and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Özel announced that he would run for the presidency at the 38th Republican People's Party Ordinary Convention to be held in 2023. He criticized Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's statements about the future of the CHP, who said that he would hand over the party to "a good social democrat with knowledge and experience". However, some party members reacted to this statement and criticized Kılıçdaroğlu for failing to lead the party in a democratic manner.
Özgür Özel, in particular, argued that Kılıçdaroğlu made this statement to target himself and other potential rivals. Özel emphasized the importance of the party's internal democracy and stated that the party's leader should be elected democratically. He also objected to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's analogy of "delivering the party to a safe harbor" and criticized this statement with the question "Who dragged that ship into dangerous waters?"
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[1] Özgür Özel (born 21 September 1974) is a Turkish pharmacist and politician who is chairman of Republican People's Party (CHP). He had previously served as a parliamentary deputy group leader of the CHP since June 2015, along with Engin Altay and Levent Gök. He is a former pharmacist and has been a MP for the electoral district of Manisa since the 2011 general election. He is well known for his activism concerning the rights of miners in Manisa Province.
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[1] Özgür Özel (born 21 September 1974) is a Turkish pharmacist and politician who is chairman of Republican People's Party (CHP). He had previously served as a parliamentary deputy group leader of the CHP since June 2015, along with Engin Altay and Levent Gök. He is a former pharmacist and has been a MP for the electoral district of Manisa since the 2011 general election. He is well known for his activism concerning the rights of miners in Manisa Province.
Özgür Özel was born in Manisa into a Balkan Turk (Macedonian Turkish) family originating from Skopje, North Macedonia as well as Thessaloniki, Greece and completed his primary education there. He completed his secondary education and started college at İzmir Bornova Anadolu High School, but returned to Manisa where he graduated from college. He graduated from Ege University Faculty of Pharmaceuticals