Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said Monday it will close its İstanbul provincial headquarters after police helped a court-appointed trustee enter the building, triggering clashes with supporters, Turkish Minute reported.
The party announced that the building, surrounded by riot police since Sunday evening, will no longer serve as its provincial office. Instead, the address of a new provincial headquarters has been reported to the Istanbul Governor’s Office and the Supreme Court of Appeals. The contested building is now designated as party leader Özgür Özel’s working office in İstanbul, according to CHP parliamentary group deputy chair Murat Emir.
“From today, the person inside is not in the CHP’s İstanbul provincial headquarters but occupying our chairman’s office. Likewise, the police are blockading our chairman’s office,” Emir said.
Police clashes and detentions
On Monday Gürsel Tekin, a longtime CHP figure appointed last week by an İstanbul court as head of a caretaker board, entered the building under police escort. His arrival sparked scuffles both with police and with rival groups of CHP members. Officers used tear gas, and an Agence France-Presse correspondent reported several people fainted and required treatment in ambulances. Between 10 and 20 people were detained on site.
Supporters of Tekin clashed with other party members at barricades outside the building, forcing police to intervene and load Tekin’s backers into a police vehicle as protesters temporarily blocked its movement.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya defended the intervention, saying, “Disregarding court decisions and trying to get people onto the streets clearly challenges the rule of law.” Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç added that judicial investigations had begun into the events outside the office and into “provocative” social media posts.
Ban on assemblies and social media throttling
The İstanbul Governor’s Office imposed a ban on demonstrations in six central districts until September 10, citing the court order that removed the provincial leadership. Police blocked roads leading to the CHP office in İstanbul’s Şişli district, preventing even CHP lawmakers from entering the premises.
Meanwhile, access to major platforms remained restricted into Monday. NetBlocks confirmed throttling of X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp across multiple networks, beginning around 23:45 local time Sunday. The Freedom of Expression Association (İFÖD) said Telegram and Signal were also affected.
Yaman Akdeniz, an internet law expert and İFÖD co-founder, said on X, “Including WhatsApp in the restrictions seriously impacts private communications, especially on the first day of the school year.”
A deepening crisis
The turmoil stems from a September 2 ruling by the İstanbul 45th Civil Court of First Instance, which annulled the CHP’s 2023 provincial congress and removed chairman Özgür Çelik and his team, appointing a caretaker board led by Tekin. Some appointees declined the role, but Tekin vowed to assume his duties, prompting the party to expel him.
The İstanbul developments precede a September 15 hearing in Ankara that could annul the CHP’s November 2023 national congress, potentially stripping Özel of his chairmanship. Özel has rejected the courts’ jurisdiction, calling the campaign a “judicial coup.”
The CHP, buoyed by its victories in the 2024 local elections and rising poll numbers, has faced a wave of prosecutions since March, when İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was jailed. At least 15 CHP mayors are currently in jail on corruption or terrorism-linked charges that rights groups say are politically motivated.
European officials have condemned the pressure. 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.”
