Riot police in Turkey have used teargas and water cannon to break up a protest called by the ousted opposition leader Özgür Özel, days after a court dismissed him as head of the main opposition CHP party. The rally took place in İzmir on Sunday, as the country prepared for the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday.
Özel was removed from his position by a shock court ruling last Thursday, which overturned a 2023 party primary that elected him. The ruling ordered his defeated rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, to resume the leadership. The CHP, Turkey's oldest political party, has been in chaos since the decision, which is the latest in a series of moves against the party following its victory over President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AKP in 2024 local elections.
Ahead of the rally, the governorate ordered the closure of İzmir's central Cumhuriyet Square and deployed a large number of riot police with water cannon trucks. Turkish media reported that police tried to break up the flag-waving crowd, with demonstrators chanting, 'President Özgür, free Turkey!'
Addressing the crowd from the top of a bus, Özel urged Kılıçdaroğlu to agree to an immediate party congress so members could choose their leader. 'Bring whoever you want as a delegate and let's compete,' he said, challenging Kılıçdaroğlu to hold a party primary within a week or two after Eid al-Adha. He described the ousting of the elected leadership as 'not an internal matter for the party', adding, 'The issue is about stopping a party that is on the march towards ultimate power.'
The court case involved allegations of vote-buying in the 2023 primary. It was initially thrown out by an Ankara court in October for lack of substance, but was overturned on appeal. Özel also linked the ruling to the jailing of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan's main political rival, on charges widely seen as political. 'Erdoğan has lost all restraint,' Özel said. 'Turkey has ceased to be a modern democratic republic and has turned into a one-man regime.'
