Overview
- A court annulled the CHP’s 2023 leadership vote and removed Özgür Özel, installing former chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as interim leader with the order upheld by appeals courts.
- Police cleared the party’s Ankara headquarters on Sunday, May 24, after the governor issued an eviction and hundreds of riot officers used tear gas to force entry.
- Özel condemned the move as a 'judicial coup,' led supporters on a march to parliament and vowed legal appeals and street mobilisation to try to regain control.
- Authorities say probes continue into alleged vote influence at the 2023 congress and nine people were arrested in Istanbul; the government says the judiciary acted independently.
- Human Rights Watch and other observers say the sequence deepens concerns about democratic backsliding in Turkey and could weaken the opposition and unsettle markets and foreign partners.