TÜRKİYE ORTA ASYA HABER KKUORDİNATÖRÜ

CENTRAL ASIA NEWS: WORLD TURKISH NEWS Worldpres Open to everyone This is an open community Democracy platform - World Democracy, foundation Democracy - human values, @swimmingstrangershark Turkish court rules to remove leader of main opposition party Court decision leads to removal of current CHP leader Özgür Özel and appointment of former leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Özgür Özel of the Republican People's Party (CHP) speaks at a protest marking the first anniversary of the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in Istanbul on March 18, 2026 (Yasin Akgül/AFP) recorded by Alex MacDonald Published: May 21, 2026 16:53 BST | Last updated: 2 weeks 4 days ago facebook share buttontwitter share buttonwhatsapp share buttonmessenger share buttonemail share buttonsharethis share button A court in Turkey has temporarily removed the leadership of the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), sparking widespread anger among party members. A court in Ankara ruled that General Chairman Özgür Özel and his team would be temporarily removed from their positions and replaced by former leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and his allies. The Court of Appeals ruled that the CHP's 38th Ordinary Election Congress, held in November 2023, at which Özel was elected, was invalid due to allegations of vote rigging. According to the ruling, all extraordinary and ordinary congresses held after that date were also deemed invalid. The CHP, Turkey's oldest political party, achieved record victories against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the last elections. The party's imprisoned presidential candidate, Ekrem İmamoğlu, has been shown in repeated polls to have the capacity to defeat President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the election. It is unclear whether the new decision invalidates İmamoğlu's candidacy, which was determined in the party's primary election in March 2025. The party has the right to appeal to the Court of Appeals within two weeks. Kılıçdaroğlu, who led the party between 2010 and 2023, was praised for expanding the party's appeal, but his defeat in the 2023 presidential election and increasing criticism from the CHP's younger cadres led to his removal from leadership. Since the CHP's victories in the 2024 local elections, a campaign of increasing arrests and judicial intervention has been waged against the party, founded by Turkish national figure Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and largely exempt from the kind of state intervention affecting smaller left-leaning and pro-Kurdish parties. Turkey’s CHP will hold an extraordinary congress after a court removed its Istanbul leadership from office. Read more » Istanbul’s then-mayor İmamoğlu was imprisoned in March 2025 on various charges including corruption, extortion, bribery, money laundering, espionage, and supporting terrorism; he denies all of them. Numerous local officials and party employees were also arrested and detained in a campaign described by the CHP as political pressure. In response to the court decision, CHP Deputy Chairman Gökan Zeybek said, “All decisions made by courts acting on the instructions of the government are invalid from our point of view.” According to Medyascope, Zeybek said, “Now we are going to Ankara. We will stand up for our headquarters, which the nation entrusted to us, which the organization entrusted to us.” However, Kılıçdaroğlu has indicated his willingness to return to his former position.