ISTANBUL — Turkish authorities deployed water cannons Tuesday to disperse crowds attempting to attend a rally featuring the ousted head of Turkey’s primary opposition political organization.
A court directive issued Thursday stripped Ozgur Ozel and the central leadership team of the Republican People’s Party, known as CHP, from their positions in what many observers view as a decision driven by political considerations.
Ozel planned to speak to his supporters Tuesday in Izmir, a western Turkish municipality, but attendees found steel barricades and law enforcement officers blocking access to Cumhuriyet Square.
Broadcasting network Halk TV, which supports the opposition, documented numerous attendees, primarily middle-aged individuals, getting drenched by water cannons while attempting to access the square. Regional news outlets additionally reported authorities used pepper spray.
The governmental turmoil began last week after an Ankara appeals court reversed a 2023 party convention decision that selected Ozel to lead the CHP. The judicial ruling reinstated his former colleague, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, creating anger among party members.
The 51-year-old Ozel, who replaced the 77-year-old Kilicdaroglu following 13 years of largely unsuccessful resistance to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, appealed Tuesday for Kilicdaroglu to conduct a new leadership election. “Don’t divide the party, don’t stop our march to power,” he stated. “Let’s ask the 2 million members (and) whoever they choose, let’s hold the congress immediately.”
Critics of the president regard the legal proceedings, which focused on voting irregularities during the convention, as another judicial assault on the CHP, during which numerous elected representatives and party participants have faced imprisonment.
After the court’s determination, Ozel and his allies fortified themselves within CHP headquarters in Ankara. Authorities raided the facility Sunday, using plastic pellets and pepper spray to violently conclude the standoff.
Ozel, who has promised to continue the fight in public spaces, announced upon reaching Izmir that he would “go wherever the people are waiting.” He subsequently appeared at Cumhuriyet Square before moving to an adjacent square where he addressed thousands of enthusiastic supporters.
The clash in Izmir — Turkey’s third-most populous city and historically a CHP fortress — occurred one day before the official Eid al-Adha celebration, though many citizens had also taken Monday and Tuesday as vacation days.
During a broadcast Eid address, Erdogan expressed hope the holiday would serve as “an occasion for hearts to soften, for those who are estranged to reconcile, for grievances to be resolved.”
Recent polling shows the CHP tied with the governing Justice and Development Party, known as AKP, and while the next election isn’t scheduled until 2028, many anticipate Erdogan will seek earlier voting.
Ozel inflicted significant damage on the AKP during 2024 municipal contests, reinforcing the opposition’s control over major cities it had captured five years prior, including Istanbul and Ankara.
Istanbul’s CHP mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, has become the most probable opponent to Erdogan, who has governed Turkey since 2003, in the upcoming presidential contest. However, he has been incarcerated since March of last year while confronting multiple criminal charges that could result in decades of imprisonment.
Numerous analysts have stated the legal actions targeting the CHP — primarily focusing on corruption accusations — are designed to weaken the party. Government officials maintain that Turkey’s judicial system remains impartial and operates without political interference.
