Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has filed a complaint with the country’s top judicial body against İstanbul’s chief prosecutor and two other prosecutors, accusing them of acting on government orders to carry out a politically motivated crackdown on the party, according to a statement from the CHP on Monday, Turkish Minute reported.
The complaint, submitted to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), concerns ongoing investigations that have targeted CHP-run municipalities and the party’s mayors since October 2024, which have so far resulted in the arrest of 17 mayors from the party and dozens of other party officials.
They include İstanbul’s popular mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was arrested on corruption charges in March, widely seen as politically motivated. İmamoğlu, the most powerful political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has also been named his party’s presidential candidate for the next presidential election slated for 2028.
According to the CHP, the prosecutors, who have been targeting the party, have repeatedly violated basic rights, including the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial and have acted outside the boundaries of the Turkish Constitution and international legal norms.
İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek, who is presiding over a number of investigations targeting the CHP, has also targeted Özel and İmamoğlu with criminal complaints due to their criticism of him.
İmamoğlu was convicted of insulting and threatening Gürlek in a trial concluded last week and given a prison sentence of 17 months for insulting a public official and two months for issuing a threat. Under Turkish law if the sentence is upheld by an appeals court, İmamoğlu will be banned from holding public office.
One part of the CHP’s complaint involves a photograph posted on social media by a prosecutor involved in the ongoing investigations into the party. The image showed a model of a white Renault Toros vehicle, a symbol widely associated in Turkey with enforced disappearances and torture during the 1990s, displayed on the prosecutor’s desk.
“The white Toros has become a traumatic symbol of torture and disappearances in our recent history,” the CHP said in its complaint. “For a sitting prosecutor to share such an image on social media is a provocation and a violation of judicial impartiality and the principles of a state governed by human rights and the rule of law.”
The complaint further claims that lawyers’ access to investigation files has been arbitrarily restricted and that the right to a defense has been systematically curtailed, undermining judicial independence and eroding the right to a fair trial.
“The principle of the rule of law, guaranteed by Article 2 of the constitution, binds not only citizens but also public officials,” the CHP said. “No public servant has the right to violate the constitution or the international treaties Turkey is party to.”
The CHP is seeking an investigation into the prosecutors for alleged abuse of power, violation of confidentiality, insult, defamation and unlawful deprivation of liberty. It also asks that their conduct be evaluated under the European and Turkish codes of judicial ethics.
Judiciary being used as political weapon
CHP deputy chair Gül Çiftci, who oversees election and legal affairs, said the party’s filing was necessary because it believes prosecutors are no longer acting independently but rather in line with the political agenda of the government.
“This is not a legal process, it is a coordinated judicial operation directed from the political center,” Çiftci said in a press statement. “The prosecution has overstepped its constitutional limits, positioning itself to carry out the executive’s political agenda, targeting opposition figures, mayors and party-affiliated lawyers.”
İmamoğlu’s lawyer, Mehmet Pehlivan, was also arrested last month on charges of membership in a criminal organization. He had previously been questioned in connection with the sweeping corruption probe that led to İmamoğlu’s arrest in March.
Çiftci urged the HSK to act immediately. “It is not a matter of discretion but a constitutional duty for the HSK to respond independently and firmly to these unlawful practices,” she said. “Failure to act will fatally erode the judiciary’s legitimacy and inflict irreversible damage on public trust in the law and social peace.”
The pressure on the CHP and its municipalities has intensified since the arrest of İmamoğlu. Critics say the sweeping probes are aimed at weakening the opposition and consolidating power ahead of a potential snap election and preventing the presidential candidacy of İmamoğlu.
Turkey has been suffering from an erosion of the rule of law, which many say has worsened after a failed coup in July 2016, when more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors were removed under the pretext of an anti-coup fight.
In a development that confirmed the erosion of the Turkish judiciary, Turkey was ranked 117th out of 142 countries in the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index published in October 2024.
