ANKARA: Turkiye’s main opposition CHP was thrown into fresh disarray Saturday as court-installed leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu made his first visit to party headquarters since a controversial court ruling scrapped a 2023 party primary.
Ozgur Ozel, the CHP leader ousted by the May 21 decision, called for an urgent congress, telling thousands at an Ankara rally that the party “cannot be run by an appointed leader.”
Ozel has emerged as a leading opposition figure following last year’s jailing of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The court ruling has plunged the CHP, Turkiye’s oldest political party, into a crisis. Three days after the order, riot police forced their way into the party’s headquarters in Ankara, firing tear gas in dramatic scenes that underscored the deepening turmoil.
It marked the latest move against the CHP, which scored a major victory over Erdogan’s ruling AKP in the 2024 local elections and has since gained ground in the polls.
