More than 260 Turkish writers have condemned a court ruling that removed the elected leader of Turkey’s main opposition party and reinstated its former chairman, calling the decision part of an “undemocratic” campaign against the right to vote and be elected, Turkish Minute reported, citing Agence France-Presse.
The Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkey’s oldest political party and the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has been in turmoil since a May 21 court ruling annulled the party’s 2023 congress.
The ruling reinstated former CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and removed Özgür Özel, who had defeated him at the congress and later led the party to its strongest election result in decades.
Critics say the court decision is politically motivated and aimed at weakening the opposition after the CHP defeated the AKP in Turkey’s March 2024 local elections.
“The ruling party has once again dealt a blow to our fundamental constitutional rights through a judiciary under its control,” 262 writers said in a joint declaration released late Saturday.
“As writers in Turkey, we object to these systematic violations of the law that disregard the will of the people and the right to vote and be elected,” the statement said. “We say ‘no’ to undemocratic practices targeting our free will, our hope and our sense of justice and aiming to create a Turkey without elections.”
The ruling has triggered one of the sharpest crises in the CHP in years and exposed anger among opposition voters over Kılıçdaroğlu’s return through a court order.
On Saturday Kılıçdaroğlu visited party headquarters in Ankara, which police had entered after the court decision to remove Özel supporters from the building.
Özel addressed thousands of supporters at a separate gathering in Ankara and called for an immediate party congress.
He later led supporters in a march to Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey and the CHP.
