Turkish Party Recasts Image

The leader of Turkey's main secularist opposition is tearing up the rule book of the party that Ataturk built, as he tries to build a credible alternative to the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that his traditionally left-of-center Republican People's Party, or CHP, is about to announce proposals for a flat tax to slash Turkey's massive underground economy, and has dropped its long-standing opposition to letting female students wear headscarves in universities.

Mr. Kilicdaroglu also called for improved relations between Turkey and Israel, badly damaged after a series of clashes between Mr. Erdogan and the Israeli government, and for more distance between Turkey and both the regime in Iran and the Palestinian Hamas movement.

"Washington is just beginning to wake up to the true nature" of Mr. Erdogan's government, which has a hidden religious and nondemocratic agenda, Mr. Kilicdaroglu said.

The government and Mr. Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development party, or AKP, have repeatedly denied such accusations. U.S. State Department officials have expressed concern over Turkey's foreign-policy direction, but say Turkey's government remains a close partner.

The CHP was launched by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey's revered founder, but has struggled to remain relevant in recent years. Faced with Mr. Erdogan's confident and economically successful government, the CHP defended hard-line secularist and nationalist positions that drove away many voters, including secularists and liberals, analysts say. Opinion polls and many analysts suggest the CHP has a mountain to climb to win elections next year.

Western capitals concluded the CHP was a less attractive partner than the AKP, which appeared more committed to building a free market, improving civil rights and taking Turkey into the European Union.

"We're aware of this perception, but it is a misperception," said Mr. Kilicdaroglu, dubbed Turkey's Gandhi by some in the media for his modest demeanor and reputation in parliament for attacking corruption. He said the CHP was now more committed than the AKP to pursuing Turkey's EU membership and that "all political parties now support a free market."

CHP officials declined to give details on the flat-tax policy ahead of the formal announcement, but they said it would involve a single, low income-tax rate to replace the range of rates from 15% to 35% currently in place. Most estimates suggest that around half of Turkey's work force is unregistered, creating a weak ability to raise tax revenues that ratings agencies cite as a cause for keeping Turkey's sovereign-bond rating below investment grade. Mr. Kilicdaroglu hopes a single low tax rate would reduce incentives for such tax evasion.

The 61-year-old former accountant, has been trying to give the CHP a new image and platform since he took over as leader in May, when a sex-tape scandal toppled his predecessor, Deniz Baykal. The new party head's biggest challenge, according to analysts and some CHP members, is to get the party's wider ossified leadership behind him.

When Mr. Kilicdaroglu recently reversed the CHP's position on headscarves, he first specified which style should be permitted on university campuses, ruling out the so-called turban style popular among AKP supporters, in what was seen as a nod to hard-liners in his party. The turban is worn under the chin and shows no hair. He dropped the distinction after being ridiculed in the media.

"Anyone should be free to dress how he or she wishes" at university, said Mr. Kilicdaroglu, interviewed at his office in the CHP's Ankara headquarters. He was adamant, however, that a headscarf ban should remain in place for all public servants, a position the government is likely to contest.

The CHP recently campaigned against changes to the constitution that would transform the membership of the Constitutional Court, until now dominated by a secularist majority that repeatedly blocked the government where parliamentary opposition failed. In a referendum on the amendments last month, the CHP lost the argument by a vote of 58% to 42%, a margin financial markets took as a further sign that the AKP is likely to win a third term in office next year.