Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
As the CHP prepares for its 39th Ordinary Congress, the party dissidents escalated their challenge to the leadership of Özgür Özel. Former CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu,76, lit the fire by calling on Özel to take disciplinary action against people named in the corruption indictment involving Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
A wedding portrayed the complexity and the changing dynamics of political relations in Turkish politics. Veteran politician Mehmet Sevigen, who was expelled from the CHP in 2021 and appears on TV screens as a sharp commentator against the CHP under Özgür Özel, managed to unite a range of opponents at his son’s wedding.
Rallying frequently since the arrest of CHP’s presidential candidate and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in March, CHP Chair Özgür Özel has continued directing sharp criticism at President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in each major political debate.
With the “change” endorsement from Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Özgür Özel became CHP chair and will mark his second year in office in just ten days. Many see this as the “most difficult two years” in the party’s 102-year history, as policies were revised and key positions changed. While also battling lawsuits to annul its congress and ongoing operations against municipalities, the CHP seems poised to fight on new fronts—starting with the possible lifting of parliamentary immunities—as the election calendar nears.
The Ankara Municipality became the latest target of the crackdown against CHP-run municipalities, and CHP Chair Özgür Özel once again started highlighting Mayor Mansur Yavaş’s presidential candidacy. “Mansur Yavaş is seen as the strongest possible candidate if Ekrem İmamoğlu cannot run for presidency. Polls show he would beat (Recep Tayyip) Erdoğan,” Özel said. “It is clear that Yavaş is also being targeted with the same intent.”
Turkey’s main opposition party, the CHP, is convening an extraordinary congress today in a bid to resolve ongoing legal challenges stemming from vote-buying allegations tied to its 2023 ordinary congress. CHP Chair Özgür Özel, who took the party’s helm during that same 2023 congress, is expected to reaffirm his leadership for the third time. No challenger is anticipated.
CHP Chair Özgür Özel vowed to continue resisting court rulings against his party, accusing the government of trying to criminalize peaceful protest.
Turkey’s main opposition CHP suffered a fresh blow as a court dissolved its largest provincial board in Istanbul over cash payment claims. The party now awaits either a Sept. 5 ruling by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) or a Sept.15 court hearing that could unseat Chair Özgür Özel’s administration. The CHP, which came to power at a November 2023 congress with the slogan “Change,” now risks being replaced by the team of former chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The 45th Civil Court of First Instance ruled that irregularities in the October 2023 Istanbul provincial congress were “approximately proven.” The court suspended provincial chair Özgür Çelik, the executive and disciplinary boards, and 196 delegates. Attention has now turned to another court set to review the CHP’s 2023 congress in Ankara. “The Istanbul decision is null and void. We do not recognize it,” said Özel, vowing not to hand over CHP’s Istanbul building to the appointed administration. The Istanbul administration also started a stage-in protest in front of the building for 24 hours.
CHP Chair Özgür Özel said he has evidence that some prosecutors and lawyers pressured defendants in the Istanbul Municipality cases to falsely confess to paying bribes in exchange for release. The following day, lawyer Mehmet Yıldırım was detained on the orders of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
One of the prosecutors overseeing the case against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has come under fire after CHP Chair Özgür Özel revealed that the prosecutor displays a model of a Beyaz Toros—a car widely associated with disappearances and state violence in the 1990s. İmamoğlu, who has been held at Silivri Prison since his March 19 arrest, recounted the incident during an interview with journalist Ruşen Çakır of Medyascope as he visited the Istanbul Mayor in prison. İmamoğlu said the prosecutor, who took his testimony following the sweeping police operation, placed a symbolic image of the white Renault Toros on his desk and ended the interrogation by saying: “Tomorrow you become president, then you judge us.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has filed a lawsuit against CHP Chair Özgür Özel, seeking 500,000 lira (12,500 USD) in damages for alleged defamation and moral harm stemming from accusations that Erdoğan both enabled and continues to support governmental misconduct.
A lawsuit seeking to annul the results of the CHP’s 2023 congress—based on allegations that delegates were bribed—has triggered a renewed power struggle between current Chair Özgür Özel and his predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.