Turkey’s main opposition party on Tuesday accused President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of trying to hold on to power by eliminating political alternatives, Turkish Minute reported.
The accusation came at a crowded parliamentary group meeting of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), days after a court annulled the party’s 2023 leadership congress, removed its elected chairman, Özgür Özel, and restored former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to the post.
Özel, who led the meeting despite the court ruling, said the leadership crisis was not an internal party dispute but part of a broader attempt to block voters from changing the government.
“This is not a matter within CHP,” Özel said. “This is a matter between Erdoğan, his regime and the nation.”
The meeting at the Turkish Parliament turned into a show of defiance against the ruling. Party members chanted for a congress before the speech, while Özel said 3,200 people were waiting outside the parliament and that the hall was filled beyond capacity.
Özel said Erdoğan’s government had lost public support and was trying to create a political system in which elections would be held only in form.
“They want to turn to a democracy of form, where elections exist only in shape, where those who have the will and determination to change things become exhausted and turn away from the ballot box,” he said.
He accused Erdoğan of seeking to leave voters “without a candidate, without a party, without an institution” and to make elections “without alternatives.”
Özel also rejected Erdoğan’s denial of involvement in the court case, saying the president could not avoid responsibility by remaining silent.
“One does not say, ‘I’m not part of this,’” Özel said. “One stands against a coup.”
The court ruling has deepened the crisis inside the CHP, Turkey’s oldest political party and the main opposition force against Erdoğan, who has ruled the country as prime minister and president since 2003.
The Ankara Regional Court of Justice annulled the CHP’s 38th Ordinary Congress, held in November 2023, where Özel defeated Kılıçdaroğlu after the party’s loss to Erdoğan in that year’s presidential election. The court ruled that the congress was invalid and ordered the previous leadership to return as an interim measure.
The case concerns allegations of irregularities in the 2023 party vote, including claims of vote buying and manipulation. The CHP denies wrongdoing and says the lawsuits are part of a campaign to weaken the opposition after its gains in the March 2024 local elections, when the party won Turkey’s largest cities and finished ahead of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) nationwide.
Özel said the court ruling had created the appearance of “two CHPs,” with one side at party headquarters under the court-appointed leadership and the other in parliament, where lawmakers and party members were resisting the decision.
He described the ruling as an alliance between what he called “the absolute sultan” and “absolute nullity,” a reference to the legal term used to invalidate the party congress.
“Today, defending CHP is not defending a party,” he said. “Today, defending the CHP is defending democracy.”
Özel said the party had begun collecting signatures from delegates to request an extraordinary congress and had passed the required number. He said the campaign reached 600 signatures shortly after noon and was moving toward 1,000, despite what he described as pressure on delegates.
Under CHP bylaws, an extraordinary congress must be convened if an absolute majority of delegates signs a petition. Kılıçdaroğlu’s side argues that a congress cannot proceed before the appeals process is completed.
The leadership fight comes amid a broader crackdown on the CHP. More than 20 CHP mayors and hundreds of municipal officials have been detained or arrested in investigations the party says are politically motivated.
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s most prominent political rival and the CHP’s presidential candidate, was arrested in March 2025 on corruption and terrorism-related charges that he denies and remains in prison.
Özel said the legal pressure on the party was tied to the government’s fear of losing power.
“What is being done is a coup against the next president, against the next government,” he said.
He said the party would continue to resist with support from other opposition parties, labor unions, bar associations, civil society groups and voters.
“The CHP is standing tall,” he said. “This group is a group marching to power.”
