A Turkish court has issued a ruling that removes the head of the main opposition party, delivering the latest blow to challengers of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The ruling, issued by an appeals court in Ankara on Thursday, annulled a 2023 leadership contest within the Republican People’s Party (CHP), deposing the party’s leader, Özgür Özel.
Özgür Özel’s Rise and Fall
Özel, 51, had become the face of Turkey’s opposition, credited with rejuvenating the CHP and remaining one of the few senior figures in the party who had avoided detention-related charges. The court ordered that Özel be replaced by his predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost a pivotal general election to Erdoğan in 2023 despite significant opposition to the president’s two-decade rule.
Özel’s election as party leader preceded the 2024 local elections, where the CHP swept Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) from power in numerous municipalities and mayoralties across the country.
Legal and Political Turmoil
Earlier this week, another Ankara court ordered Özel to pay President Erdoğan 300,000 lira (£4,900) in damages for remarks that included calling him an “oppressor” and urging him to “leash your dogs” amid a crackdown on the opposition. Erdoğan responded by calling Özel “delusional” and accusing the CHP of acting as a “puppet of terrorists seeking to undermine this state.”
The court case unseating Özel was widely criticised as an effort to subdue the CHP and reinstall a leader more amenable to Erdoğan’s rule. Kılıçdaroğlu, who has called for the “purification” of his own party, responded sanguinely, expressing hope the ruling would prove “beneficial to Turkey and the CHP.”
Economic Repercussions
The ruling jolted Turkey’s struggling economy amid fears of further instability. Trading was briefly suspended on the Istanbul stock market as share prices dropped by 6%.
Since the 2024 elections, observers have denounced a fresh crackdown targeting opponents of Erdoğan’s rule, primarily opposition mayors and local officials from the CHP. More than 20 CHP mayors have been detained on corruption, bribery, and terrorism-related charges.
İmamoğlu’s Detention and Future
The arrest last year of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, seen as a likely CHP presidential candidate, marked a watershed for the party and the country’s beleaguered opposition. Thousands protested in the streets. İmamoğlu has since spent a year in a maximum-security facility near Istanbul and was among 400 defendants in a mass trial for an alleged corruption scheme tied to his time as mayor. Human Rights Watch called the trial part of a broad effort to weaponise the criminal justice system against the CHP.
Many other CHP municipal officials across Turkey have faced similar graft charges. Five officials from the Beşiktaş municipality were taken into custody earlier this week as part of a bribery investigation.
Looking Ahead to the Presidential Election
CHP officials have indicated they are keen to contest a presidential election expected next year. There is speculation they could run the jailed former mayor İmamoğlu as a candidate. Özel told the Guardian last year that the party had prepared plans for İmamoğlu to be the candidate even if he remained in detention, adding that he was prepared for authorities to seek his arrest if Erdoğan “can’t cope politically like what happened with İmamoğlu.” He described the upcoming election as a referendum on whether Turkey would have “autocracy or democracy.”
