Overview
- Riot police forced their way into the Republican People’s Party headquarters in Ankara on Sunday, May 24, using tear gas, rubber bullets and battering of makeshift barricades to evict Özgür Özel and supporters who had occupied the building for three days.
- An appeals court last week annulled the CHP’s November 2023 congress and provisionally reinstated former leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, a ruling the CHP calls a 'judicial coup' and which triggered the occupation and the police enforcement request.
- After the eviction Özel left the building, led hundreds of supporters toward parliament and vowed street protests while CHP lawmakers re-elected him to a senior parliamentary role and the party filed appeals to higher courts.
- The government and AKP spokespeople defended the action as enforcement of a court decision, prosecutors said arrests were linked to alleged irregularities at the 2023 congress, and several domestic and international actors condemned the use of force.
- Analysts say the episode fits a longer pattern of legal pressure on the CHP since 2024, could take months to resolve in court, and raises the odds of an early national vote that would change campaign timing and voters’ choices.