Thousands rallied in protest late Wednesday after a court ousted the main opposition CHP's Istanbul leadership on allegations of graft, further ratcheting up the legal pressure on the party.
The Republican People's Party (CHP), which won a huge victory over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP in the 2024 local elections and is rising in the polls, slammed the move as a "judicial coup" and defiantly vowed to fight back.
The CHP has been hit by a barrage of arrests and legal cases, the biggest of which was the jailing in March of Istanbul's popular and powerful mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, seen as the sole candidate with a realistic chance at beating Erdogan at the ballot box.
Tuesday's ruling annulled the outcome of CHP's Istanbul provincial congress in October 2023, throwing out its leader Ozgur Celik and 195 others, and naming a five-man team to replace them in a move that saw the stock market plunge 5.5 percent.
CHP on Wednesday filed an appeal against the ruling.
An almost identical lawsuit is hanging over its national leadership in a closely watched case that will resume in Ankara on September 15.
"Government, resign!" shouted the crowd in Istanbul's Zeytinburnu neighborhood, a stronghold of Erdogan's AKP, waving Turkish flags as CHP's leader Ozgur Ozel vowed the party would not be cowed.
"They think they will silence the CHP and name an opposition that suits them but we won't bow. It's not only the opposition that is threatened but the multi-party system: this is a regime that usurps democracy," he said.
Last week, the Istanbul public prosecutor filed an indictment against Celik and nine other party members over alleged vote rigging at the 2023 congress. If convicted, they could face up to three years in prison.
Political analyst Berk Esen told AFP the move was a "rehearsal" for the bigger case against the party's national leadership seeking to hobble it as an opposition force.
"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 reduce the CHP to a controlled opposition."
At the upcoming hearing in Ankara, the court will resume a hearing into allegations of vote rigging at CHP's November 2023 congress, seeking to overturn the result of its leadership primary.
If successful, it could oust Ozel and see him and several others, including Imamoglu, facing up to three years in jail for vote rigging.
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 over Imamoglu's removal.
The legal pressure on the party has seen hundreds of its elected officials detained since October 2024 on graft allegations that critics say are spurious. Among them are 17 CHP mayors.
AFP
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