Turkey's Opposition Leader Risks Court Removal

Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), reeling from a severe legal crackdown, faces the potential ousting of its leader, Ozgur Ozel, by an Ankara court on Monday. 

The court will rule on whether to annul the CHP’s 2023 congress due to alleged procedural violations, a decision that could strip Ozel of his leadership role and further weaken the opposition.

Hundreds of CHP members, including President Tayyip Erdogan’s key rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, are currently jailed pending trial in a broad investigation into alleged graft and terrorism ties, charges the party denies.

Anti-Erdogan street protests have flared again in the last week, including in Ankara on Sunday, over a legal crackdown critics call politicised and anti-democratic. The government rejects this, saying the judiciary is independent.

“This is a serious moment that signals a regime change in Turkey from a competitive authoritarianism, in which opposition parties could still win elections, to a kind of hegemonic authoritarianism, in which they are more symbolic and unable to win,” said Seren Selvin Korkmaz, co-founder and co-director of IstanPol Institute, an Istanbul-based think tank.

Reuters