CHP leader to hold meeting with Bernie Sanders during US visit

Main opposition CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu will be in Washington between Oct. 9-13. He told journalist İsmail Saymaz that he will not meet with any U.S. minister but with only U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Turkish students.

Friday September 23 2022 11:08 am

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Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will visit Washington between Oct. 9-13.

Kılıçdaroğlu will hold a meeting with US Senator Bernie Sanders during his visit, İsmail Saymaz from Halktv reported on Sept. 22.

Kılıçdaroğlu told Saymaz that since he represents the opposition in Turkey, he will not hold any meeting with any U.S. government official or minister as a master of principle.

“Of course, I have a vision of a new world. Wild capitalism and neoliberalism have done a lot of damage to the world. Our country has also taken its share from this ruthless system. Here I am challenging this wild order. I will meet with activists who believe in more equitable sharing and political figures who are fighting for this cause. Together we will talk about how to make the world a better place to live,” he said.

Kılıçdaroğlu will also meet with Turkish students in Washington, Saymaz wrote.

Sanders, a democratic socialist whose progressive campaigning helped push the U.S. Democratic Party agenda sharply to the left, ran to be U.S. president in 2020 but ultimately lost out on the party nomination to eventual election winner Joe Biden.

During the 2020 U.S. presidential race and a failed 2016 run at the Democratic Party nomination, Sanders' anti-establishment, pro-healthcare and labour rights message captured the attention of swathes of grassroots activists at home and among leftist movements abroad.