Turkey's main opposition to decide future leader

Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party, known by the initials CHP, will hold an extraordinary congress on September 5-6 to decide who will take the helm of the party after its poor performance in the August 10 presidential election, the party's spokesman said Sunday. Haluk Koc, who is also the party's deputy chair, said the central executive board decided to meet following a call by Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the party. The decision came five days after several lawmakers in the party held a press conference to suggest the removal of Kilicdaroglu as chairman. CHP's Ankara lawmaker Emine Ulker Tarhan called on Kilicdaroglu to resign and to call an extraordinary party meeting, citing their candidate Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu's poorer-than-expected performance in the first-direct presidential election. On Friday, Kilicdaroglu agreed to hold the congress at which his future is likely to be top of the agenda. According to the results, Ihsanoglu received 38.44 percent of the vote. President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the race in the first round by garnering nearly 52 percent of the vote.