Socialist International said on Thursday it would continue to recognize Özgür Özel as the legitimate leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), rejecting a court decision that removed its elected leadership and reinstated Özel’s predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
According to Turkish Minute, the global alliance of socialist, social democratic and labor parties said its Ethics Committee met May 27 and voted unanimously to back Özel until the dispute is resolved “in an acceptable and consensual way.” It also called on Kılıçdaroğlu to convene an immediate extraordinary congress, organized “transparently, democratically, inclusively” and without disciplinary action against rival factions.
The crisis began last week when an Ankara appeals court annulled the 2023 party vote that brought Özel to power, ruling on the “absolute nullity” of the congress — meaning the result was void from the outset — and ordering Kılıçdaroğlu and his former leadership team reinstated as an interim measure.
Özel and his allies say the ruling is part of a broader judicial campaign against the opposition, coming after the CHP dealt President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) its first nationwide defeat in the March 2024 local elections.
Socialist International said it had monitored the vote that elected Özel and found the procedures “democratic and inclusive.” It called the nullity ruling “unfounded” and expressed “full solidarity” with Özel.
On Sunday riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to remove Özel’s supporters from the party’s Ankara headquarters.
Kılıçdaroğlu led the CHP from 2010 until 2023, when he lost the party leadership to Özel after his defeat to Erdoğan in that year’s presidential election. Özel then led the party to its strongest showing in nearly half a century in the 2024 local vote, winning control of Turkey’s largest cities.
The leadership fight is unfolding alongside a wider crackdown on the CHP.
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s most prominent political rival and the party’s presidential candidate, was detained in March 2025 on corruption and terrorism-related charges that he denies.
The opposition says the cases against him and other party figures are politically motivated.
