Jailed İstanbul Mayor and opposition presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu on Thursday warned that Turkey is “on the brink of great danger” as a court prepares to rule on the legitimacy of the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 2023 congress, a decision that could strip current leader Özgür Özel of his position and plunge the main opposition into deeper turmoil.
In a written statement released on X, İmamoğlu cautioned that “we are moving down a path where elections and the votes cast will lose their meaning.” He noted that it was the collective duty of political parties, trade unions, business and employer associations and civic groups to safeguard democratic rights.
“We must protect democracy, the people’s right to vote and the rule of law,” he said, adding that differences in political ideas and methods should not prevent a shared commitment to protect the integrity of elections. He called on all institutions to act “before it is too late,” stressing that ensuring the sanctity of the ballot was a responsibility that transcended partisan lines.
CHP youths stockpile food, gas masks amid siege fears
Meanwhile, supporters of the CHP have begun preparing for potential unrest. CHP youth groups have stocked thousands of N95 gas masks, along with pasta, biscuits and lemons as remedies for tear gas, at the party’s headquarters in Ankara, according to a report by the Sözcü daily on Friday. The measures are aimed at preventing a repeat of the scenes in İstanbul earlier this week, when riot police fired tear gas at lawmakers and protesters during the court-ordered takeover of the party’s provincial branch.
İmamoğlu’s warning and the preparations come ahead of a high-stakes hearing on September 15 at the Ankara 42nd Civil Court of First Instance, which could annul the CHP’s November 2023 congress that elected Özel. The constitution assigns the authority to oversee elections, including party congresses, to the Supreme Election Board (YSK), which has already endorsed Özel’s leadership. However, the Ankara court could still annul the congress on procedural grounds, which many legal experts deem unconstitutional. Such a ruling would strip Özel of his position and potentially see a court-appointed trustee or former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu installed.
Analysts say the outcome could deepen the opposition’s turmoil and boost President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s prospects of extending his time in office. “If such a judicial coup against the main opposition takes place, that would be the collapse of the multi-party system in Turkey,” Berk Esen, a political analyst at Sabancı University, told Reuters on Friday.
The CHP leader has said the party would refuse to hand over his post in the wake of a court ruling and that he would remain in its Ankara headquarters. If needed, he said the party could call millions of Turks into the streets to protest.
To protect Özel, a large majority of CHP delegates have already called for an extraordinary congress on September 21 to re-elect him. Özel says anyone appointed by the court to replace him would not be able to cancel this plan.
Scenes seen as part of a wider crackdown on democracy unfolded at the İstanbul provincial headquarters of the CHP earlier this week, when Gürsel Tekin, a longtime party figure recently appointed by a court as head of a caretaker board, entered the building under police escort. His arrival triggered scuffles with rival CHP members and police, who used tear gas. An Agence France-Presse correspondent reported that several people fainted and required medical treatment and that between 10 and 20 people were detained.
The development was the latest chapter in a sweeping crackdown targeting the CHP, which won Turkey’s biggest cities in the 2024 local elections and is polling ahead of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The crackdown has seen more than 500 people linked to the party or the İstanbul Municipality detained or arrested since March. At least 15 opposition mayors are currently behind bars, while elected officials in several municipalities have been replaced with government-appointed trustees.
According to Reuters, markets fell sharply after a series of court interventions against the CHP, including the jailing of İmamoğlu in March and rulings that arrested dozens of party figures and removed its İstanbul leadership. The lira slid and the central bank was forced to intervene. The unprecedented legal pressure has eroded the party’s leadership ranks and fueled concerns of what critics call Turkey’s autocratic slide in which the courts, media, military, central bank and other formerly more independent institutions have bent to Erdoğan’s will over his 22-year reign.