An Ankara court on Thursday rejected lawsuits seeking to overturn the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 2023 İstanbul provincial congress and its 2023 national congress, saying the plaintiffs lacked standing and that a similar case had already been filed.
The ruling does not automatically erase an earlier order from a different court in İstanbul that set off a showdown at the party’s provincial headquarters.
On September 2 the İstanbul 45th Civil Court of First Instance issued a temporary injunction that suspended the results of the 2023 provincial congress, removed provincial chair Özgür Çelik and his board and appointed a caretaker panel led by veteran CHP figure Gürsel Tekin.
That Istanbul order was the paper basis for police surrounding the building and escorting Tekin inside on September 8 despite protests and altercations.
Today’s ruling came from the Ankara 3rd Civil Court of First Instance, which dismissed the İstanbul-congress annulment suit on the merits and declined to hear the national-congress case on procedural grounds.
CHP lawyers say the Ankara decision should nullify the İstanbul injunction and end the trustee arrangement immediately.
Tekin’s lawyers counter that the İstanbul injunction still stands unless an appeals court explicitly cancels it, so their mandate continues.
Two rulings now coexist as they were issued in different cases by different courts, and only a higher appeals panel or the Supreme Court of Appeals can decide between the two of them.
In short, the İstanbul court suspended the validity of the local CHP election and installed a temporary board, and later, the court in Ankara threw out a separate attempt to void that election as well as the national one.
Until the appeals process clarifies which order takes precedence, both camps claim legal superiority and the police presence has not been lifted.
The practical result is a tug-of-war at the building: The CHP says the trusteeship is over, while Tekin says the trustee remains.
The confrontation outside the office turned physical on September 8, when police used pepper spray and detained demonstrators as Tekin entered the building.
Authorities simultaneously restricted access to major platforms including X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp, measures that internet monitors said began around 20:45 GMT on September 7 and laster 21 hours.
The governor also banned public gatherings in several central districts through September 10, tightening the perimeter around the CHP site.
İstanbul is important since it’s the opposition’s biggest stronghold and the province with the most party delegates, which helps decide national leadership.
The broader backdrop is a year-long crackdown on the CHP that includes the March arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on corruption charges and probes that opposition figures call politically motivated.