ANKARA — Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who returned to the helm of Turkey’s main opposition party by court order last week, moved Wednesday to sell the party’s two luxury vehicles in an apparent bid to win over supporters, but the gesture is unlikely to ease the backlash against him, a new poll shows.

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) used the two vehicles under the leadership of Ozgur Ozel, who was ousted by a court ruling last week. Kilicdaroglu’s team put them up for sale at the party's headquarters in Ankara. 

Ozel's removal centered on claims of vote-rigging at the CHP’s November 2023 congress, where he unseated Kilicdaroglu following the 78-year-old politician’s repeated election defeats against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including in the 2023 presidential race.

The sale appeared to be an attempt to signal austerity under the party’s reinstated leader in a country where annual inflation topped 32% in April, according to official data. But a recent poll suggests the move is unlikely to ease anger toward Kilicdaroglu, both among CHP supporters and the broader public.