ANKARA: A Turkish court on Thursday rejected the ouster of the Istanbul branch leaders of the country’s main opposition party over alleged irregularities in its leadership congress.
The ruling follows clashes on Monday at the Istanbul headquarters of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), as protesters tried to stop a court-ordered administrator from entering the building.
The CHP, which won a huge victory over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party in 2024 local elections, had vowed to fight the dismissal of its Istanbul branch leadership.
But the party has been facing a growing number of graft investigations since the jailing of Istanbul’s popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, seen as the sole candidate with a realistic chance at beating Erdogan at the ballot box.
“The annulation of the Istanbul regional congress has been definitely overturned today,” CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said, ahead of an extraordinary congress set for September 21.
