Overview
- An Ankara appeals court on Thursday annulled the CHP’s November 2023 congress, suspended chairman Ozgur Ozel and ordered former leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu to be provisionally reinstated as interim head.
- Ozel vowed to resist the decision, stayed at the party’s Ankara headquarters, called the ruling a judicial coup and lodged multiple appeals including to higher courts and the Supreme Election Board.
- Markets fell sharply after the ruling with the Borsa Istanbul benchmark down about six percent and a market-wide circuit breaker triggered, prompting central bank and finance ministry interventions to steady assets.
- The court move is the latest in a wider legal crackdown since 2024 that has seen hundreds of CHP members and officials detained and that includes the jailing of Istanbul mayor and presidential hopeful Ekrem Imamoglu.
- The ruling has immediate organisational effects — Kilicdaroglu has begun forming an interim team while police detained 13 people in a related probe on Saturday — and the party’s pending appeals will determine whether the decision is upheld or reversed.