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Tens of thousands join Ankara protest against legal crackdown on Turkey's main opposition party
At least 50,000 people rallied in Ankara's vast Tandogan Square Sunday to protest against a year-long legal crackdown on members of Turkey's main opposition party, organisers said. The protest comes ahead of a court decision Monday that could invalidate the 2023 Republican People's Party congress, fundamentally reshaping the party.
15/09/2025 -
By: FRANCE 24
Tens of thousands of people protested in the capital Ankara on Sunday against a court case that could oust the head of the main opposition on Monday after a year-long legal crackdown on hundreds of its members.
Live footage showed crowds chanting for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's resignation while waving Turkish flags and party banners.
The court decision on Monday whether to invalidate the 2023 congress of the Republican People's Party (CHP) over alleged procedural irregularities could reshape the party, rattle financial markets and influence the timing of a general election set for 2028. The court could also delay the ruling.
Speaking at Sunday's rally, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel – who was himself elected at the 2023 congress – said the government was trying to cling to power by undermining democratic norms and suppressing dissent following opposition victories in local elections over the past year.
Ozel also called for a snap general election.
Turkish opposition vows to resist
"This case is political. The accusations are slander. Our comrades are innocent. What's being done is a coup – a coup against the future president, against the future government. We will resist, we will resist, we will resist," Ozel said in his address to the crowd.
"This government does not want democracy," he said. "They know they cannot win the elections if there is democracy. They don't want justice: they know if there's justice they won't be able to cover up their crimes."
The government says the judiciary is independent and denies any political motives.
Turkey arrests more than 120 city hall members in opposition stronghold Izmir
Turkey has detained more than 500 people, including 17 mayors over the last year in Istanbul and other CHP-run municipalities around the country as part of corruption investigations, according to a Reuters review.
Hundreds of members of the CHP have been jailed pending trial in a sprawling probe into alleged corruption and terrorism links, among them President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival – Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
The arrest of Imamoglu in March sparked the country's largest protests in a decade where hundreds of thousands took to the streets, prompting a brief but sharp selloff in the lira and other Turkish assets.
In a letter sent from prison and read aloud at the rally in Ankara, Imamoglu wrote that the government is attempting to pre-determine the outcome of the next election by sidelining legitimate rivals. He also accused the government of undermining democracy through politically motivated judicial actions and other efforts to suppress dissent.
"The era of 'I' in this country will end, and the era of 'we' will begin. One person will lose, and everyone else will win," Imamoglu wrote.
The crowd applauded and chanted "President Imamoglu" after the letter read aloud.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)
The trial that Turkey had awaited for months was on September 15 postponed by the Ankara 42nd (Asliye Hukuk) civil court of first instance. It assigned the date of October 24 for the next hearing of the trial vital to the standing and future of Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP).
The court is examining whether alleged irregularities invalidate the CHP national congress held in November 2023. If the ruling is for an invalidation, the CHP’s leader, Ozgur Ozel, who was elected to his position at the congress, could be legally stripped of his chairmanship of the party.
Anticipation and tensions over the trial built after the Istanbul 45th (Asliye Hukuk) civil court of first instance on September 2 appointed a board of trustees to take over the CHP’s provincial headquarters in Istanbul.
Ozel’s leadership to last at least until October 24
Given the hearing postponement, Ozel will stay in post at least until October 24. The unfinished court process, meanwhile, will keep the fate of the CHP top of Turkey’s agenda.
Interval to keep everyone happy
Turkey loves the bunk and baloney generated by this kind of tripe. Every single Turk up and down the country has an idea about what is really going on, what President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has planned and where he will take things from here.
Some Turks are sure that the CHP has nullified Erdogan’s attempt to take over the party apparatus. Other Turks are sure that the country’s leader of 22 years is simply taking his time preparing the public and foreign investors for an upcoming seizure of the CHP.
With the mix of data to hand (the various courts and hearing dates, the dates selected for new congresses and other dates in this interplay), it is possible for the observer to produce an infinite number of likely scenarios that could develop in the weeks ahead.
Yes, the Turks have a lot to play around with. They have no time to complain.
The finance industry and the foreign media are also happy with where things stand. The Borsa Istanbul is running wild, offering some good exploitable volatility, while the foreign media can look forward to writing plenty more clickable headlines.
Turkey’s five-year credit default swaps (CDS), which have hovered in the 250-300+ band in recent years, fell into the 250s from the 270s prior to the hearing that brought the postponement.
De facto impact of CHP extraordinary congress very much in question
On September 21, the CHP will hold an extraordinary congress. Party officials believe that this will void any possible trustee appointments made by courts to take over the CHP management. The regime may have other ideas.
On September 24, the CHP will hold a provincial congress in Istanbul.
A court-ordered board of trustees has been put in place as the official representatives of CHP Istanbul, but party representatives have said that they also believe that the provincial congress will eliminate the mandate of these trustees. We will see.
On September 26, the Istanbul 45th court will evaluate a ruling issued by the Ankara 3rd civil court of first instance. That particular court decided last week that provincial headquarters of political parties do not have legal identities that allow them to be tried.
After the Ankara 42nd court holds the next hearing of the main trial on October 24, the Ankara 26th civil court of first instance will on November 4 hold the next hearing in a criminal case targeting individuals, including jailed Istanbul mayor and chief political rival to Erdogan, Ekrem Imamoglu, as regards actions they took during the November 2023 CHP congress.
There are even more trials and dates in the period ahead. See the details here.
Bayrampasa mayor detained, Beykoz mayor went over to Erdogan
Meanwhile, the CHP mayor of Bayrampasa district in Istanbul was detained at the weekend, bringing the total number of jailed CHP mayors to 19. He was yet to be dismissed.
In another development, the CHP mayor of the city’s Beykoz district, who was elected by the city parliament after the mayor elected by citizens was dismissed, joined Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) last week.
So far, the government has taken over 12 CHP municipalities. See the details here.
“They are bankrupting hope in this country” – Imamoglu issues warning ahead of fateful day for Turkish democracy
Turkey is “on the brink of great danger”.
That was the warning from Ekrem Imamoglu, the jailed chief political rival to the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as the potentially fateful day of Monday September 15 loomed.
The day could see a court rule on the legitimacy of the 2023 congress held by Istanbul mayor Imamoglu’s party, the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP). If the judgement goes against the CHP over claimed irregularities, it could strip party leader Ozgur Ozel of his position.
Such an outcome would be seen by critics of the Erdogan regime as a major step to dismantling what remains in Turkey of meaningful democracy and opposition – though the CHP and Ozel have long come under fire for not being meaningful enough in the face of a powerful operator like Erdogan.
On September 14, tens of thousands protested in the capital Ankara against the court case that follows the arresting and detaining of hundreds of CHP members, including 17 mayors, over an alleged sprawling “octopus-like” network of corruption.
On social media, Imamoglu, who says he faces a range of trumped-up corruption charges in an effort by the regime to remove him from politics, said in a statement that “we are moving down a path where elections and the votes cast will lose their meaning”.
On September 12, Imamoglu was brought to court on charges pressed over the "forgery of an official document".
Authorities accuse him of forging papers related to establishing the legitimacy of his university degree. Imamoglu, jailed since mid-March after a dawn police raid on his home, is the CHP’s presidential candidate. Turkish law requires presidential candidates to hold at least an undergraduate degree.
The hearing took place in a courtroom within Marmara Prison Complex in Silivri, located on the outskirts of Istanbul.
There was applause as Imamoglu entered the courtroom.
CHP leader Ozel arrived chanting the party's slogan, "Rights, law, justice", bianet reported.
It further reported that Imamoglu criticised the timing of the trial, referring to symbolic parallels with Turkey’s past: “The indictment was written by someone who knows I will defeat him in the next election. The very existence of this case is disgraceful. Today is September 12. This date evokes memories of military coups in the Turkish public’s collective memory. Be it military, civilian, political, or backed by the government or religious groups nurtured by the government, any kind of coup should be condemned. I strongly denounce all those who have staged, applauded, supported, or served as instruments for coups.”
He continued: “I hope our country will no longer face such interventions. But unfortunately, I must stress that we are currently going through a coup-like process. They are bankrupting hope in this country—but I won’t let them. I’m so free in my 12-square-metre cell that it would make those in their palaces burst with envy.”
Imamoglu requested that his detained lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan, held at Corlu Prison, be allowed to represent him. The judge approved the request. Pehlivan reportedly joined the hearing via the judicial video system.
In Ankara at the protest, live footage showed crowds chanting for Erdogan’s resignation while waving Turkish flags and party banners.
Ozel, accusing the government of trying to cling to power, called for a snap general election. “This case is political. The accusations are slander. Our comrades are innocent. What’s being done is a coup – a coup against the future president, against the future government. We will resist, we will resist, we will resist,” he said in his address to the crowd, as reported by Reuters.
In a message from Imamoglu read out to the crowd, clearly taking aim at Erdogan, Turkey’s leader of 22 years, Imamoglu said: “The era of ‘I’ in this country will end, and the era of ‘we’ will begin. One person will lose, and everyone else will win.”
The crowd applauded and chanted “President Imamoglu”.
Turkey’s Sozcu daily reported on September 12 that CHP youth groups, preparing for potential unrest, have stocked thousands of N95 gas masks, along with pasta, biscuits and lemons as remedies for tear gas.
Asked what a court ruling against the CHP congress could mean, Berk Esen, a political analyst at Sabanci University, told Reuters: “If such a judicial coup against the main opposition takes place, that would be the collapse of the multi-party system in Turkey.”
CHP vice president Murat Bakan told AFP: "What they're trying to create is an opposition in name only, that will not have any impact on election results like in Russia or Belarus."
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