Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was born in the Nazımiye district of Tunceli in 1948. He completed his primary and secondary education in various places in Anatolia such as Ercis, Tunceli, Genç, and Elazığ. He graduated in 1971 from Ankara Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences. In the same year, after the account specialist assistance exam he took, he started to work in the Ministry of Finance. Later on, Kılıçdaroğlu who became an accounting specialist, stayed in France for a year. He continued working as an account specialist until 1983 and was appointed to the General Directorate of Revenues the same year. Here, he served as department head, then, in the same institution, he served as the Deputy Director General.
In 1991, he was appointed to Bağ-Kur. Serving as the general director there, Kılıçdaroğlu was appointed as the General Director of the Social Security Institution in 1992. Then, for a short period, he served as the deputy secretary at the Republic of Turkey Labor and Social Security Ministry. He retired from the Social Security Foundation General Directorate with his own will in January 1999. Kılıçdaroğlu, who presided over the Special Occupation Commission for the Undeclared Economy in his work for the Eighth Five-Year Development Plan, taught at Hacettepe University for a while. After that, he served as a member of the Executive Board of Türkiye İş Bank.
CHP and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, with the General Elections on November 3, 2002, entered the Assembly as the Istanbul Deputy of the Republican People’s Party. Kemal took office in CHP Central Executive Committee, was elected as the 23rd term deputy from İstanbul on 22 July, 2007 deputy general elections. Until he announced his general presidency, he remained in his position as Group Deputy Chairman of CHP. Kılıçdaroğlu was elected as the President of the Republican People's Party at the 33rd Ordinary Congress held on May 22nd, 2010 and still carries out this duty today.
July 15 Coup Attempt
“We are on alert”
On the night of the July 15 coup attempt, Kılıçdaroğlu explained that he was against the coup with the posts he made through the official Twitter account as the leader of the Republican People's Party, the main opposition party, and called on all sectors of the society to 'stand out against the coup'. Kılıçdaroğlu said that he was in Istanbul on the NTV live broadcast during the coup attempt and used the phrase "we are watching carefully" for the coup attempt.
Signing the joint notice accepted in the General Assembly of the Parliament which gathered extraordinarily on July 16th, CHP gave messages of unity. Chairman Kılıçdaroğlu said, “We condemn this treacherous attack toward our democracy. Our people went out last night, resisting the coup. Last night, we saw how legitimate the right to resist is wherever the law is violated. There cannot be a better example of resisting.”
First step to the palace and Yenikapı Public Meeting
Kılıçdaroğlu, who took the first step to the presidential palace by attending the Leaders' Summit held in the Presidential Palace under the presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on July 25, participated in the Democracy and Martyrs' Meeting which was held in Yenikapı and attended by 5 million people. Making a speech comprised of 12 articles, he kept his attitude of solidarity after the coup attempt.
“July 15 Coup Attempt was a planned attempt”
However, the Main Opposition Leader modified his statement and said, “July 15 coup attempt is a planned, scheduled attempt. The actual coup was dated for July 20th in which the state of emergency was declared. July 15 is a controlled coup attempt, because they needed a cause for the actual July 20 coup. Continuing with similar statements, Kılıçdaroğlu said, “The State of Emergency was prolonged in order to not reveal the political side of the July 15 coup attempt.” In the Yenikapı meeting, he said, “Now we have a common ground. July 15 is special in terms of unity. There is going to be a new Turkey after July 15. If we can further carry this power and the culture of unification, we may leave a beautiful Turkey to our children. Kılıçdaroğlu, on the occasion of the Declaration of the TBMM General Assembly on the December 16, 2016 Central Administration Budget Draft, took the floor on behalf of the party and stated that the arena that was provided on July 15 had been lost.
