Riot police in Turkey on May 26 fired teargas and water cannon to break up a lunchtime rally in Izmir called by the country’s main opposition party CHP over last week’s court-ordered ousting of its leader Ozgur Ozel and the storming and seizing by law enforcement of the party’s national HQ building in Ankara.
“President Ozgur, free Turkey!” the crowd in the western coastal city of Izmir, a CHP stronghold, chanted in scenes broadcast live on TV.
As things stand, there is no sign that the CHP will be able to achieve the critical mass of protest that might force the 23-year-old ruling regime headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan into reverse on what critics say is an autocratic plan that will wipe out the last vestiges of democracy in Turkey. And, as IntelliNews’ Beyond the Bosporus column contends today (May 26), the CHP seems incapable of recognising the extent of the ugly reality it is facing, such as a hollowed out judicial system that, with little difficulty, can be bent to the will of the powers that be.
The latest events may have been instigated by the regime in preparation for a snap election.
CHP’s presidential candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, has been in jail since March last year on multiple charges of corruption, widely seen as trumped up as part of the effort to take him out of circulation. Imamoglu would have every chance of toppling Erdogan in a head to head contest should he be allowed to run, which he won’t be if the current set of circumstances hold.
The court ruling that dislodged Ozel addressed claims of alleged bribes used ahead of the 2023 party primary that elected Ozel. The ruling ordered the reinstatement of the man Ozel defeated to win the party leadership, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, often derided as a lacklustre politician, to resume his position at the CHP helm. Ozel’s team said the bribery and other accusations heard by the court were entirely cooked up.
The rally in Izmir took place as Turkey prepared to shut down for the four-day Eid al-Fitr holiday.
AFP reported that, ahead of the rally, the city governorate ordered the closure of Izmir’s central Cumhuriyet Square, deploying a large number of riot police with water cannon trucks. They tried to break up the flag-waving crowd, Turkish media reported.
Addressing the crowd, Ozel called on Kilicdaroglu to agree to a party congress immediately so members could select who they wish to be their leader.
“Bring whoever you want as a delegate and let’s compete,” he said.
AFP cited Ozel as saying that the deposing of CHP’s elected leadership was “not an internal matter for the party”.
“Anyone who sees it that way is deceiving the people … this is between the people and Erdogan,” Ozel was reported as saying, adding: “The issue is about stopping a party that is on the march towards ultimate power.”
The news agency also quoted remarks made by Ozel on May 24, in which he said: “Erdogan has lost all restraint. Just as he imprisoned the presidential candidate who could defeat him, he is now effectively shutting down the political party that could defeat him. Turkey has ceased to be a modern democratic republic and has turned into a one-man regime.”
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