Turkish police stormed the headquarters of the main opposition CHP party in Ankara, deploying tear gas and rubber bullets against party supporters and officials who had occupied the building for three days.
The dramatic raid marks a violent culmination to a leadership dispute and signals an escalation of tensions between the opposition and the government of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The standoff began after an appeals court ruling dismissed the recently elected party chairperson, Ozgur Ozel. Supporters had barricaded the courtyard entrance with buses and fortified the building with furniture.
Footage from local media captured clouds of tear gas as riot police breached the premises, before journalists were forcibly removed. Inside, attempts by supporters to resist with fire extinguishers were quickly subdued, leaving doors, furniture, and ground-floor windows destroyed in the melee.
Among those inside was Mr Ozel, who was elected party chairperson in November 2023 but subsequently dismissed by the court.
A video from his office showed him defiantly ripping up the court order as the raid commenced. Emerging from the headquarters to cheers from supporters, Mr Ozel declared: “We are leaving the building now only to reclaim it in such a way that no one will be able to meddle again. When we return, neither this administration nor the administration’s collaborators will dare do this once more.”
Mr Ozel and his supporters then marched about 8km to the parliament, joined by hundreds despite heavy rain and hail. En route, he paused at the National Sovereignty Park, asking the crowd if they were prepared to rebuild the party for a third time. The CHP, founded in 1923 by Turkey’s national father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was previously shut down during a 1980 military coup before its re-establishment in 1992.
Outside the legislature, Mr Ozel rallied the crowd, asserting that the CHP was “de facto shuttered” but would be re-established. Despite his ousting as chairperson, Mr Ozel remains an elected lawmaker for Manisa province and the party’s group speaker.
The appeals court ruling on Thursday nullified Mr Ozel’s election, suspending him and the party’s executive board, and stipulating that his predecessor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, should replace him.
Mr Kilicdaroglu had led the party for 13 years without securing any national election victories. In contrast, Mr Ozel, in his first and only election as party leader, delivered a significant blow to Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party in the 2024 municipal polls.
The opposition contends that the court’s decision is politically motivated, designed to weaken the party amidst a wave of legal cases targeting its members and elected officials.
With the next presidential election not due until 2028, though Mr Erdogan retains the power to call an early vote, the political landscape remains fraught. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a prominent CHP member and a key challenger, has been imprisoned since March last year and faces corruption charges. Many observers suggest that the legal actions against the CHP, often centred on corruption allegations, are intended to neutralise the party ahead of future elections. The government, however, maintains that Turkey’s courts are impartial and operate independently of political pressure.
The vast majority of the party has rallied behind Mr Ozel, who, along with most of the party, had been inside the CHP headquarters since Thursday’s ruling, preventing the new administration from entering. A meeting between the rival factions had been scheduled for Sunday afternoon to resolve the impasse.
However, early on Sunday, a crowd gathered outside the office, prompting an increased police presence. Mr Kilicdaroglu’s lawyer, Celal Celik, formally requested police assistance to vacate the building, a move approved by the provincial governor.
The raid’s timing coincides with the start of the nine-day Eid al-Adha holiday, a period when many people are on vacation and away from major cities. Mr Erdogan, who has governed Turkey as prime minister and then president since 2003, experienced a significant electoral setback in 2019 when the CHP gained control of several major cities in local elections, with Imamoglu emerging as a popular figure seen by many as capable of challenging Mr Erdogan.
