On a tense Sunday in Ankara, Turkish riot police launched a forcible entry into the headquarters of Turkey’s largest opposition bloc, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), just days after an appellate court invalidated the leadership of current party head Özgür Özel. The operation ignited chaotic clashes between security forces and CHP supporters, who had assembled a makeshift barricade at the building’s entrance to block police access. Thick plumes of tear gas filled the air outside the CHP compound as officers pushed through the defensive line. On-site footage captured CHP members inside the building shouting in protest, hurling objects toward the entryway, and dousing advancing officers with water hoses in a last-ditch attempt to hold the building.
The conflict traces back to a Thursday ruling from Turkey’s appeal court, which annulled the 2025 CHP leadership primary that saw Özel oust 77-year-old former party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost the 2023 Turkish presidential election to incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been ordered to retake the leadership position per the court’s decision. The ruling also mandates a full replacement of CHP’s current executive committee, and effectively strips all recent party decisions of legal recognition. The lower court had previously thrown out claims of vote-buying surrounding the 2025 primary, a ruling the appeal court explicitly overturned in its new decision.
Hours before the police operation, the CHP had publicly pledged to defy the controversial court order, a move widely interpreted as a further escalation of political tensions that have consolidated Erdoğan’s authority over Turkey nearly 23 years after he first took office as prime minister. As police moved into the building, Özel released an urgent video statement to social platform X declaring “We are under attack.” Following the completion of the police intervention, Özel exited the CHP headquarters and led a procession of supporters toward the Turkish parliament, where he doubled down on his opposition to the government’s actions. “From now we will be on the streets or in the squares, marching towards power,” Özel told supporters after the incursion.
International observers have already raised alarms over the escalating crackdown on Turkey’s main opposition. On Saturday, Human Rights Watch issued a statement warning that Erdoğan’s administration is eroding Turkish democratic norms through what it described as “abusive tactics” targeting the CHP. Özel has repeatedly accused Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of waging a deliberate campaign to eliminate all political opposition. Erdoğan, 72, currently faces constitutional limits on his presidential term, which is set to end in 2028. He can only run for re-election ahead of that deadline if the government calls early elections or successfully amends the country’s constitution to remove term limits.
Turkey’s Justice Minister Akin Gürlek defended the court’s ruling earlier this week, framing the decision as a win for democratic governance. “[The ruling] reinforces our citizens’ trust in democracy,” Gürlek said. The incursion into CHP headquarters marks one of the most significant direct confrontations between the Erdoğan administration and the Turkish opposition in recent years, deepening divisions within the country’s already polarized political landscape.