Turkish police fired tear gas and detained several people on Monday as they moved to disperse opposition supporters gathered outside the İstanbul headquarters of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), a day after authorities blockaded the building and restricted access to social media platforms, Turkish Minute reported.
An Agence France-Presse correspondent reported scuffles between riot police and up to 200 protesters, including lawmakers, who had stayed overnight behind police barricades. Between 10 and 20 people were detained as officers tried to clear the way for the arrival of a court-appointed trustee.
The confrontation followed a ruling last week by the İstanbul 45th Civil Court of First Instance that annulled the CHP’s 2023 provincial congress, removed provincial chairman Özgür Çelik and 195 board members and appointed veteran politician Gürsel Tekin as interim leader.
On Sunday evening police sealed off the building, and İstanbul’s governor imposed a temporary ban on public gatherings in central districts. At the same time watchdogs including the Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) reported that access to platforms such as X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal was throttled nationwide starting around 23:45 local time.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya defended the measures, warning that “disregarding court decisions and trying to get people onto the streets clearly challenges the rule of law.”
The crackdown comes less than a week before a high-stakes hearing in Ankara on September 15, where a civil court will resume a case seeking to annul the CHP’s November 2023 national congress that brought Özgür Özel to the leadership. A ruling against the congress could strip Özel of his chairmanship, appoint a trustee to run the party or order a new congress.
The CHP, which won Turkey’s biggest cities in the 2024 local elections and is polling ahead of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has faced intensifying legal pressure.
Since March, when İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was jailed on corruption and terrorism-linked charges, at least 15 CHP mayors have been arrested in nationwide investigations that rights groups describe as politically motivated. Markets have reacted sharply as the İstanbul stock exchange fell 5.5 percent after last week’s provincial ruling, and traders say the central bank intervened with billions of dollars in reserves to steady the lira.
European Union officials have expressed alarm at the escalating legal challenges. Nacho Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, warned last week that removing Özel would be “the nail in the coffin of Turkish multiparty democracy.”
The CHP has appealed the İstanbul court ruling and vowed to resist what it calls a “judicial coup.” Party leaders say they will continue mobilizing supporters despite bans and internet restrictions.
