Turkey's main opposition CHP party on Tuesday vowed to fight after a court dismissed the leadership of its Istanbul branch over alleged irregularities in its leadership congress, the latest legal blow to hit the group.
The Republican People's Party (CHP) won a huge victory over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP party in the 2024 local elections and has been rising in the polls but faces a growing number of graft investigations.
The cases began in earnest in March with the jailing of Istanbul's popular and powerful mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, who was seen as the sole candidate with a realistic chance at beating Erdogan at the ballot box.
Among the myriad of legal cases lodged against it is one by Ankara prosecutors, who are seeking to overturn the result of CHP's national party congress, which would oust the party's leader, Ozgur Ozel.
Some analysts say that the legal cases are aimed at hobbling CHP's ability to contest elections.
Tuesday's ruling, a copy of which was seen by AFP, in effect suspends "all decisions taken" at the CHP's Istanbul provincial congress on October 8, 2023, annulling the outcome of the vote and throwing out its leader Ozgur Celik and his leadership team, unseating him and 195 others.
The ruling triggered a sharp reaction on Istanbul's BIST 100 stock exchange, which shed 5.5 percent, later recouping some of its losses to close down 3.74 percent.
Speaking after an emergency party leadership meeting in Ankara, the party's national leader, Ozel, struck a defiant tone.
"The court's decision is politically and legally null and void. We do not recognize it... we will not surrender," he told the opposition Halk TV.
Turkey was facing "a judicial coup" at the hands of "a government that has suspended the constitution and abandoned the ballot box," he charged.
"They are threatening to remove me from the party leadership, but I will fight back. So come and remove me: the people have the right to resist any kind of coup."
Tuesday's ruling came just days after the Istanbul public prosecutor filed an indictment against Celik and nine other party members in the context of a probe into alleged vote rigging at the congress, with offers of cash and other benefits.
Also named are the detained mayors of the Istanbul districts of Besiktas and Beyoglu. If convicted, they could face up to three years in prison.
'A Rehearsal'
Political analyst Berk Esen told AFP the move against the Istanbul leadership was a "rehearsal" for another legal case targeting the CHP itself in a bid to hobble it as an opposition force.
"The annulment of the Istanbul provincial congress is nothing but a rehearsal for seizing the CHP administration," he told AFP, adding that the upcoming court case in Ankara was aimed at undermining the party's ability to contest future elections.
"This marks a shift toward full autocracy and signals the end of the multiparty system in the country as we know it. The government is making calculated moves to eliminate Ekrem Imamoglu, whom it sees as the only genuine electoral threat, and to reduce the CHP into a controlled opposition."
On September 15, an Ankara court will resume its hearing into allegations of vote rigging at the CHP's November 2023 congress, seeking to overturn the result of its leadership primary.
If successful, it could overturn the election of Ozel and see him and several other figures, including Imamoglu, facing up to three years in jail along with a political ban for graft.
CHP denies the allegations, which critics see as a politically motivated bid to undermine the party, whose popularity has grown since it led a wave of street protests after the ousting of Imamoglu, widely seen as the biggest political challenger to Erdogan.
The legal pressure on the party has seen hundreds of its elected officials detained since October 2024, largely over alleged graft investigations.
Among them are 17 CHP mayors. In at least three municipalities, elected CHP officials have been replaced by government-appointed trustees.
AFP
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