ANKARA, Sept. 15, 2025 — A court in Ankara is expected Monday to rule on whether to annul the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 38th congress held in November 2023, a decision that could strip Chairman Özgür Özel of his post and potentially reinstate long-time leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
The court case alleges electoral fraud, including vote buying and procedural violations, during the internal leadership contest that ousted Kılıçdaroğlu and elevated Özel. The CHP has denied the accusations, calling the legal action a politically motivated attempt by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government to weaken the opposition through judicial pressure rather than democratic means. The government insists Turkey’s courts are impartial and says the investigations focus on corruption.
If the court annuls the congress, judges could appoint trustees to run the party’s affairs or reinstate Kılıçdaroğlu as chairman, moves that would likely deepen internal divisions within the CHP. Kılıçdaroğlu has indicated he would be willing to return to the leadership, but many party supporters view him as increasingly unpopular after repeated electoral defeats to Erdoğan.
Critics of the government view the lawsuit as part of a broader crackdown on the CHP following gains the party made in last year’s local elections. Municipalities controlled by the CHP have faced waves of arrests this year. Among those targeted is Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who remains in pretrial custody on corruption charges he denies; his March arrest prompted nationwide protests and intensified concerns about the use of the judiciary against political opponents.
Earlier this month, a court removed the CHP’s elected provincial leadership in Istanbul and installed an interim chairman. Police escorted the court-appointed official to the party’s Istanbul headquarters and used pepper spray to disperse party members and supporters who resisted the move.
Özel, speaking at a party rally in Ankara on Sunday, described the measures against the CHP as a “judicial coup” and vowed to resist what he called efforts to undermine Turkey’s oldest political party. Government officials have rejected that characterization, maintaining that legal actions are separate from politics and aimed at addressing alleged corruption.
Legal experts say the Ankara court’s decision will have immediate organizational consequences for the CHP and could reshape opposition strategy ahead of national elections scheduled for 2028, which political analysts say could be called earlier. Observers say a ruling that overturns the 2023 congress could prompt legal appeals and further street-level tensions between party activists and authorities.
The case reflects ongoing strains between the judiciary and political parties in Turkey and comes amid broader international scrutiny of the country's democratic institutions. Both sides — the CHP leadership and government officials — have framed the dispute in existential terms: the CHP as defending democratic norms, and the government as enforcing accountability against alleged wrongdoing. The Ankara court’s ruling is expected to clarify the immediate future of the CHP’s leadership and could set the tone for opposition-government relations in the run-up to the next national vote.