Turkish police cleared on 24 May the CHP party headquarters in Ankara following a controversial court ruling issued on Thursday that stripped the current leadership of Turkey’s main opposition party of its authority and ordered the reinstatement of its former leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was ousted at a CHP congress in November 2023. The police intervention came after the party’s secretary-general and leader of the opposition in Turkey, Özgür Özel, and his team, refused to hand over the leadership to Kılıçdaroğlu – as stipulated by the ruling – and barricaded themselves inside the CHP headquarters, sparking violent clashes between Özel’s supporters and riot police amid high tension inside the building, where several of Özel’s supporters attempted to erect barricades to prevent the police from entering.
Tensions began around midday, when MPs close to Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu claimed that “colleagues from the previous administration” had prevented them from entering the headquarters to try to resolve the delicate situation through dialogue. For his part, Özel released a video in which he insisted on not complying with the court ruling and on “resisting”: “Our crime is having defeated the AKP. They can take our bodies, but they will not take our struggle,” declared the hitherto leader of the Republican People’s Party defiantly.
“We understand that our comrades are not planning a peaceful transition,” stated the CHP MP for İzmir, Mahir Polat, as quoted by the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet. “As our (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said, we will hold a congress as soon as possible. However, with incomprehensible obstinacy, our comrades insist on not vacating the offices,” Polat – who belongs to the faction supporting Kılıçdaroğlu – told the journalists gathered outside the building.
In light of this situation, Kılıçdaroğlu’s lawyer, Celal Çelik, filed a request with the Ankara police for the party headquarters to be handed over to the former political leader’s team in compliance with the ruling issued on Thursday by the Ankara Regional High Court. “Despite all the constructive initiatives and attempts at negotiation by the MPs, it has become clear that not even MPs were allowed access to the headquarters. We therefore request that the necessary procedures be carried out to hand over the party headquarters to us,” stated the letter submitted by Çelik to the police. Subsequently, the Ankara Governor’s Office confirmed in a statement that “instructions have been given to the security forces to enforce the court ruling”.
Violent clashes at the entrance to the CHP headquarters
Hours earlier, brief clashes had already taken place during the morning between MPs aligned with Kılıçdaroğlu and party supporters of Özel gathered outside the building housing the CHP headquarters. Faced with rising tension, Kılıçdaroğlu had asked party members to avoid “any action or behaviour contrary to the culture and discipline of the organisation”.
Following the order issued by the governor of Ankara in response to a request from Kılıçdaroğlu’s legal representatives, dozens of riot police broke down a metal gate leading to the party headquarters whilst Özel’s supporters erected barricades at the gate; as the officers advanced towards the entrance, the crowd began hastily piling all manner of objects – including chairs and even sofas – at the main door to block the access of the police officers, who used pepper spray and tear gas to disperse Özel’s supporters. Several party members responded by throwing objects and using fire extinguishers inside the building in an attempt to halt their advance.
Once they had managed to force their way into the building, the officers began searching the various floors of the building, whilst Özel remained in his office on the 12th floor. Several MPs accompanying him who refused to hand over the headquarters to the new administration left the building one after another, until, finally, Özel himself appeared at the main entrance, dressed in a white shirt and coughing constantly due to the pepper spray that had spread throughout the interior.
“I am leaving, but I will return one day,” says a defiant Özgür Özel
“Everyone acts according to their own nature. I rebel against those who seek to take over Atatürk’s party,” said Özgür Özel in a brief statement to journalists and his supporters, in what many interpreted as a criticism of Kılıçdaroğlu without mentioning him directly. Özel argued that his team had attempted to engage in dialogue with Kılıçdaroğlu’s representatives to discuss the urgent convening of a congress, as demanded by the section of the party opposing the ruling, but claimed that the other side ignored these approaches and chose instead to “storm the party headquarters this morning”.
Emphasising that he was re-elected as leader of the CHP parliamentary group yesterday, Saturday, to demonstrate that he continues to enjoy the majority support of the party, Özel added that both within the CHP parliamentary group and across broad sections of Turkish society, there are calls for the CHP to hold an urgent congress within 40 days to elect its leader. However, in a telephone conversation held late on Friday with Kılıçdaroğlu – which was repeated again this very morning – the latter informed Özel that his intention was to convene a congress “at the most appropriate time”, without specifying a date.
Saying that the CHP is much more than a building, Özel – who is no longer legally the leader of the opposition or of the party following the court ruling – announced that he was leaving the opposition party’s headquarters “to return one day”, and, to the applause of his supporters, he made his way, accompanied by his followers, towards the headquarters of the Turkish Parliament amidst shouts from some of his sympathisers, who chanted “Kılıçdaroğlu is a traitor”. Once at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Özel delivered a speech to party members and answered questions from journalists, and later that evening he met with the Mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavaş, who is also a member of the CHP.
“We wanted a solution, but it was not possible,” say Kılıçdaroğlu’s supporters
Following the eviction from the CHP headquarters in compliance with the court order, several close associates of Kılıçdaroğlu went to the building to inspect the damage and begin cleaning up, whilst security forces deployed a massive surveillance operation in the surrounding area in anticipation of further disturbances.
Müslim Sarı, a CHP member and former MP for Istanbul, later announced to the press that Kılıçdaroğlu – who until now has sought to stay out of the media spotlight – will visit the party headquarters at the end of the Eid al-Adha holiday. “We tried, but unfortunately we were unsuccessful. We were unable to establish a dialogue with the leaders at the headquarters and, for the first time in the CHP’s history, party MPs were unable to enter. We wanted to find a sensible solution, but it was not possible. The leader (Kılıçdaroğlu) is also saddened by this situation,” he told reporters.
The serious internal crisis facing the historic CHP party was triggered after a high court in Ankara issued a unanimous ruling on 21 May, declaring that the party’s 38th congress – held on 4 and 5 November 2023, and at which Özel ousted Kılıçdaroğlu as general secretary after 13 years of the latter leading the main opposition party — was “absolutely null and void” due to several irregularities detected during the event. The court also – retroactively – annulled all decisions taken following the congress and ordered the reinstatement of Kılıçdaroğlu as party leader: a decision that has sparked a real political storm in Turkey and threatens to split the party founded by Atatürk himself in two.
VOTE
EDITORIAL TEAM
🧿 About us
.
Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
…
📣 Your ADVERTISING on Hispanatolia
.
🤗 HELP US WITH A DONATION:
💗 Paypal
