Riot police fired tear gas and forced their way into the Republican People’s Party (CHP) headquarters on Sunday as they moved to evict the party leaders who had been ousted by a court ruling, a witness at the scene said. Clouds of tear gas filled parts of the building while people inside shouted and hurled objects at the entrance as officers broke through a makeshift barricade.
The intervention followed a court decision on Thursday that annulled the results of the CHP congress where Ozgur Ozel was elected leader in 2023, citing irregularities. On Sunday, the governor of Ankara issued an order for those inside the party’s headquarters to be removed.
The court reinstated former CHP chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu in place of Ozgur Ozel. Kilicdaroglu had been the party’s standard-bearer in the national election that year and lost to President Tayyip Erdogan.
The leadership that was ousted under Ozel condemned the court ruling as a "judicial coup." Ozel said he would challenge the decision through legal appeals and vowed to remain in the CHP’s Ankara headquarters "day and night."
Summary of events
- Riot police used tear gas and forced entry into the CHP headquarters to carry out an eviction.
- A court annulled the 2023 CHP congress results and replaced Ozgur Ozel with former chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
- The ousted leadership has rejected the court ruling and pledged legal appeals while maintaining a presence in the party's Ankara offices.
Contextual note
The police operation and the court ruling occurred within the same sequence of events: the court annulled the 2023 congress outcome on Thursday, and the eviction order was issued by the Ankara governor on Sunday, culminating in the police action described above.