Turkish Court Removes CHP Leader Özgür Özel, Restores Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu

A Turkish court in Ankara issued a ruling that removed Özgür Özel, the head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), annulled a 2023 leadership contest, and ordered that Özel be replaced by his predecessor Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

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The Guardian reported that the appeals court ruling was issued on Thursday and that Özel, 51, had become the face of Turkey’s opposition, while the court ordered Kılıçdaroğlu to return after losing a pivotal general election to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2023.

Bianet

The IndexBox account said the state-run Anadolu Agency reported the court invalidated the 2023 leadership election that brought Özel to power and ordered the return of former long-term chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu as interim leader.

IndexBox also said the case involved allegations of vote buying at the CHP congress in November 2023, with prosecutors claiming Özel secured his victory by pressuring delegates with promises of jobs and other kickbacks.

The New Region added that Ankara’s Regional Court of Appeals temporarily suspended Özel’s leadership and ordered Kemal Kilicdaroglu to take charge during the suspension, describing the congress as invalid due to “absolute nullity.”

In response to the ruling, Erdoğan called Turkey’s main opposition leader “delusional,” saying: “We have to protect the reputation of politics in the face of attacks.”

The Guardian also quoted Erdoğan accusing the CHP of acting as “puppet of terrorists seeking to undermine this state,” framing the court case as a blow to challengers of the president.

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Bianet reported that Müsavat Dervişoğlu said: "We are completely against any kind of undemocratic intervention against the will of the nation," while also describing the “absolute nullity decision” as “itself an absolute nullity!..”.

Bianet quoted CHP İstanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik saying: "We are faced with a new phase of the coup mechanism that started on March 19," and said the party was “on duty for democracy and justice at our İstanbul Provincial Building in Sarıyer.”

European Greens, as quoted by Bianet, said the move was part of a broader pattern of “political instrumentalisation of the justice system” and called for “an immediate, clear and firm reaction from the European Commission and Council.”

The Guardian said the ruling jolted Turkey’s struggling economy, with trading briefly suspended on the stock market in Istanbul amid a 6% drop in share prices, and it described observers denouncing a fresh crackdown targeting opponents of Erdoğan’s rule.

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The Guardian reported that more than 20 CHP mayors had been detained on a wave of corruption, bribery and terrorism-related charges, and it cited the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu as a watershed, with thousands protesting and İmamoğlu held in a maximum-security facility near Istanbul.

IndexBox said Imamoglu is currently on trial for espionage, a case running parallel to a sweeping graft trial that opened on 9 March, with prosecutors seeking a 2,430-year prison sentence.

In Bianet, Prof. Dr. Şule Özsoy Boyunsuz said: "This decision is null and void. I do not recognize it," and declared: "My Chairman is Özgür Özel."

The New Region said the ruling can be appealed before Turkey’s top appeals court, the Yargitay, within two weeks, and it added that the court said the annulment meant “all ordinary and extraordinary congresses held after this date and all decisions taken at these congresses are invalid.”