A landmark and deeply controversial court ruling in Turkey has upended the leadership of the country’s main opposition bloc, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), triggering immediate outrage from the party’s current leadership and laying bare escalating tensions between the ruling establishment and Turkey’s oldest political force.
The Ankara court’s judgment ordered the temporary removal of sitting CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel and his entire executive team, installing former party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu and his political allies to take over their roles in an interim capacity. The ruling, issued by Turkey’s Court of Appeals, stems from claims of electoral fraud that nullified the CHP’s 38th Ordinary Elective Congress held in November 2023, the party meeting where Ozel secured his victory to replace Kilicdaroglu. Under the terms of the ruling, all subsequent party congresses held after the 2023 extraordinary gathering are also legally invalidated.
Founded by iconic Turkish statesman Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the CHP has secured historic electoral gains against the long-ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in recent national contests. Most notably, imprisoned CHP presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu – the former popular mayor of Istanbul – has consistently led in opinion polling, with results showing he would defeat incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a head-to-head general election. It remains uncertain whether the latest court ruling will also invalidate Imamoglu’s 2025 party primary victory, which secured his place as the CHP’s presidential nominee.
Imamoglu was taken into custody in March 2025 on a sweeping array of charges including corruption, extortion, bribery, money laundering, espionage, and ties to terrorism – all allegations he has forcefully denied. Dozens of CHP local officials and grassroots party workers have also been arrested in what the opposition has decried as a coordinated campaign of political repression. Prior to Imamoglu’s arrest, the CHP had largely escaped the heavy-handed state interference that has targeted smaller left-leaning and pro-Kurdish political parties in Turkey for years, a pattern that shifted dramatically after the party won major gains in 2024 local elections.
Kilicdaroglu, who led the CHP from 2010 to 2023, was credited with expanding the party’s electoral base and broadening its public appeal, but growing criticism from the party’s younger generation of politicians and his 2023 presidential election loss to Erdogan led to his departure from the leadership role. Following the court ruling, Kilicdaroglu signaled he was prepared to reassume his former post, telling TGRT News: “May this decision be beneficial to Turkey and CHP.”
The current CHP leadership has rejected the ruling as politically motivated and has pledged to contest it. Per Turkish law, the party has a 14-day window to file an appeal with the country’s Court of Cassation. “All decisions taken by courts acting on instructions [from the government] are null and void as far as we are concerned,” CHP Deputy Chairman Gokan Zeybek stated, according to reports from independent Turkish outlet Medyascope. “Now we are going to Ankara. We are going to stand up for our headquarters, the headquarters entrusted to us by the nation, entrusted to us by the organisation.”
The ruling marks the most significant escalation in a months-long crackdown on the CHP, deepening political uncertainty in Turkey ahead of upcoming national presidential elections.