Turkey riot police use tear gas to drive ousted opposition leader from party HQ
Hundreds of Turkish riot police stormed the Ankara headquarters of the country's main political opposition to remove the party's ousted leader, who was dismissed by a court order on Thursday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has overseen a year-long legal crackdown on the CHP opposition party following the arrest of Istanbul's popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in 2025.
Issued on: 24/05/2026 - 15:39Modified: 24/05/2026 - 17:16
2 min Reading time Share By: FRANCE 24
Hundreds of Turkish riot police using teargas forced their way into the Ankara headquarters of the main CHP opposition party on Sunday after a court dismissed its leadership.
Party members had blocked the building's entrances, defying the court order issued Thursday as part of an official probe against the Republican People's Party (CHP), before officers broke in to remove the group's leader.
A prominent rights NGO, Human Rights Watch, on Saturday warned that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government was undermining Turkish democracy with "abusive tactics" against the CHP.
Last year, Turkish authorities jailed Erdogan's main political rival, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was the CHP's candidate for the presidential election due in 2028.
Read moreTens of thousands join Ankara protest against legal crackdown on Turkey's main opposition party
Erdogan has ruled Turkey, first as prime minister and then as president, since 2003. His electoral record suffered a setback in 2019, when the CHP seized control of several major cities in local elections. In Istanbul, Imamoglu emerged as a popular and charismatic figure who many felt could successfully topple Erdogan.
The court order on Thursday cancelled the 2023 victory in party elections of CHP head Ozgur Ozel and named its former chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu – a lacklustre figure who chalked up a string of electoral defeats – as interim leader.
"The Republican People's Party will from now be on the streets or in the squares," Ozel said as he was forced out of the building.
"We will march towards the seat of power," he vowed as he set off for parliament surrounded by supporters.
Kilicdaroglu's backers had tried to push their way in, before police received orders to step in and take the building.
Last year, similar scenes took place in Istanbul, when the courts named an administrator to take charge of the regional CHP offices.
Human Rights Watch called the court order "the latest deeply damaging blow to the rule of law, democracy and human rights" in Turkey.
Turkey's next national election is set for 2028 but would need to be brought forward if Erdogan, at age 72 and facing a term limit, wants to run again. The court ruling raises the chances of an early vote, analysts said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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