From elite party to social democratic mass party: Kılıçdaroğlu era CHP

CHP has periodically included different party models due to its historical positioning. Being stuck between the party of the state and the party of the people creates CHP's historical dilemma. The continuity of the regime discourse, which has become the political and social reflex of the CHP from the one-party regime period, has opened a space for itself again during the Deniz Baykal period. CHP has also been caught up in the global rise of identity politics and became trapped in an exclusionary politics that emphasized secularism and nationalism. The re-dominance of social democratic politics in the CHP became possible with Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu becoming the Chairman of the CHP in 2010. The aim of this thesis is to explain that the contradiction of party identity, which has always existed in the history of CHP, was resolved on the basis of social democracy during the Kılıçdaroğlu era. Under Kılıçdaroğlu, class politics was pursued by using concepts such as income inequality, equality, poverty, corruption and social justice. In this period, it was envisioned to break out of the narrow mold of identity politics and to pursue a class politics that would cut across society on a horizontal axis. Aiming to eliminate old identity conflicts in order to make room for the CHP in class antagonism, Kılıçdaroğlu tried to break the disconnected structure of the past with the alliances formed by the party, the halalization output and self-criticism towards the past; he strengthened social democratic politics in the party in line with political discourses and declarations, election manifestos, social movements and relations with poor people. The study explains that social democracy, which had been relegated to the background for many years despite having a place in the history of the CHP, gained a permanent place in the party under Kılıçdaroğlu.