AP —
Police stormed the offices of Turkey’s main opposition CHP party on Sunday, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at a crowd of party supporters and officials gathered outside the gates.
This was a violent end to a standoff that had been going on for several hours between members of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the new court-appointed leadership.
Footage taken by local media in and around the building in the capital Ankara showed huge clouds of tear gas and riot police storming the compound.
Tensions have been high since Thursday after the Court of Appeal invalidated Özgür Ezer’s election as party chairman in November 2023.
The ruling said his predecessor, Kemal Kilikdaroglu, who led the party for 13 years but had never won a national election, should succeed him.
Meanwhile, in his first and only election as party leader, Ozer dealt a decisive blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party in the 2024 municipal polls.
Opposition parties say the decision was politically motivated to weaken the party, which has been plagued by a wave of lawsuits targeting members and elected officials.
The next presidential election is scheduled for 2028, but President Erdogan may call for early voting. His main challenger, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imammoğlu, a member of the CHP party, has been imprisoned since March last year and is scheduled to stand trial on corruption charges.
Many officials say the case against the CHP, which mainly revolves around corruption charges, is aimed at crippled the party ahead of the next election. The government maintains that Turkish courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.
The majority of the party rallied to Ozer’s support. Since Thursday’s ruling, he and most of his party members have been inside the People’s Party headquarters in the capital Ankara, which the new government has been unable to gain access to. The rival teams were scheduled to meet Sunday afternoon to find a way to break the impasse.
Local media reported that a crowd formed outside the office, claiming that Ozer was not a member of the CHP and had been sent to intimidate him. Mr Kilicdaroglu’s lawyer sent a request to Ankara police to assist in vacating the building. Ankara’s governor’s office issued a statement approving the request.
