Clouds of tear gas and a surge of riot police turned the headquarters of Turkey’s main opposition party into a flashpoint in Ankara, as officers forced their way inside and ousted the party’s leader just days after a court moved to dismiss the current leadership.
The clashes marked the latest, and most dramatic, confrontation in what critics describe as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s widening crackdown on political opponents — a campaign that has repeatedly spilled into the streets as rivals and supporters push back.
Members of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) had barricaded entrances to the building, refusing to comply with a court order issued on Thursday in the context of an official probe into the party. Police later broke in, firing teargas as they moved to remove CHP leader Özgür Özel.
“They stormed our headquarters, used tear gas, beat us with batons, ransacked the party (building) and threw us out,” Özgür Özel CHP party leader told AFP.
Ousted CHP party leader Ozgur Ozel led supporters through the streets after the operation at the party headquarters
Özel accused Erdogan of acting irrationally, saying the president had “lost his senses” and arguing that the operation was part of political manoeuvres aimed at securing victory in the next elections, scheduled for 2028.
The confrontation comes after Turkish authorities last year jailed Erdogan’s chief political rival, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who had been selected as the CHP’s candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
Imamoglu was arrested on corruption charges — allegations he has rejected as politically motivated.
Thursday’s court decision also upended internal CHP politics: it annulled Özel’s 2023 win in the party’s leadership elections and installed the party’s former chair, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, as interim leader. Kilicdaroglu has been portrayed by opponents as a lacklustre figure who suffered a string of electoral defeats.
“Just as he (Erdogan) jailed the presidential candidate who could have beaten him, he has now officially closed the political party that could have beaten him,” Mr Ozel told AFP.
Rights group warning
Pushed out of the headquarters, Özel set off on foot in the rain, walking several kilometres toward parliament with supporters surrounding him.
“The Republican People’s Party will from now be on the streets or in the squares,” he said as he was forced out of the building.
In later remarks to AFP, he went further, declaring: “Turkey has ceased to be a modern democratic republic and has turned into an authoritarian regime.”
Before police intervened, supporters of Kilicdaroglu had attempted to force their way into the CHP headquarters — a standoff that escalated until officers received orders to take control of the building.
Similar turmoil erupted last year in Istanbul, where courts appointed an administrator to run regional CHP offices, setting the stage for confrontations that echoed Saturday’s scenes in the capital.
On Saturday, global NGO Human Rights Watch warned that Erdogan’s government was chipping away at Turkish democracy through what it called “abusive tactics” targeting the CHP.
The group described the court order as “the latest deeply damaging blow to the rule of law, democracy and human rights” in Turkey.
