Turkey: CHP leader removed by court order
In Turkey, the main opposition party CHP is under intense pressure. At the end of May a court ordered the removal of party leader Özgür Özel on the grounds that his election in 2023 was not in accordance with the rules. Under the ruling, former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is to lead the party instead. The judgement has triggered a leadership crisis in the form of an open power struggle between Özel and Kılıçdaroğlu.
The end of the Republic
Birgün warns:
“The police search of the CHP headquarters and the de facto takeover of its leadership is the culmination of the coup process that began on 19 March [the day of the arrest of Istanbul Mayor İmamoğlu in 2025]. The CHP is the only remaining institution of the Republic. Hence the disempowerment of a CHP that has adopted a course of resistance means that the Republic itself is being disempowered. ... In its desperation, the government is taking the final steps to drive the country into an Islamic-fascist dictatorship. A government will never fall of its own accord if there is no organised movement seeking to topple it.”
Wrong court, wrong law
The Court of Appeal should never have handed down this ruling, criticises Karar:
“The ruling on the 'absolute nullity' of the CHP constitutes a misapplication of the law. According to Article 21 of the Political Parties Act, the YSK [Supreme Electoral Council] is the only competent judicial authority authorised to rule on the validity of party conferences and party congresses. The Court of Appeal, however, ruled on the basis of the Civil Code. ... Even Bülent Arınç, one of the leading founders of the AKP, wrote that he considered this decision 'wrong in terms of jurisdiction, remit and procedural law'.”
Europe making a show of its powerlessness
In Falter, journalist Ruşen Timur Aksak fears that no one will stop Erdoğan:
“The ruler on the Bosphorus (no longer) has any goals beyond staying in power. Whatever the cost. ... So using the judiciary – which he has long kept on a tight leash – Erdoğan is creating an opposition that suits his purposes. ... What angers me most about the removal of opposition leader Özel are the reactions in Europe. ... Or rather, those half-baked, formal notes of protest, which Erdoğan will of course interpret for what they are: words of powerlessness. And because Washington is led by Donald Trump, a US president who seems to get on particularly well with the autocrats of this world, Erdoğan won't stop at anything.”