On October 24, 2025, the political landscape in Turkey shifted dramatically when an Ankara court dismissed a high-profile lawsuit that threatened to unseat the leader of the country’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP). The ruling, which came as a surprise to many, has been widely interpreted as a rare assertion of judicial independence amid mounting pressure from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government.
The case at the heart of the drama centered on allegations of bribery, vote manipulation, and procedural irregularities during the CHP’s November 2023 leadership congress. That contentious gathering saw Özgür Özel, a seasoned party figure, elected as chairman, replacing longtime leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Critics of the process, including some disgruntled party members, claimed the outcome was tainted and sought to have the results annulled—a move that could have paved the way for Erdoğan’s administration to exert direct control over Turkey’s oldest political party.
But on Friday, Ankara’s 42nd Civil Court of First Instance ruled the case was “without basis.” According to Courthouse News, the judge pointed to the fact that Özel had been reelected at a new congress just last month, a strategic maneuver by the CHP designed specifically to neutralize the legal challenge. The court also noted that one of the complainants was ineligible to file the lawsuit, further undermining the case’s foundation, as reported by AFP.
The decision was met with palpable relief among opposition leaders and party loyalists. Spectators in the courtroom broke into applause, and outside, party stalwarts like 75-year-old Ummu Gulsun Seyfi, who has supported the CHP since 1977, accused the government of political meddling. "But their ambitions have been thwarted today," she told AFP, voicing the sense of reprieve felt by many.
Özgür Özel himself wasted no time in framing the verdict as a victory for Turkish democracy. Speaking at party headquarters, he said, "On one side, there is the government targeting democracy and seeking to eliminate the ballot box, on the other, the democrats who fight against it." His words were echoed by CHP spokesman Deniz Yücel, who posted on X: "At a time when the very notions of law and justice have been stripped of substance, this decision... is gratifying for our democracy."
Yet, the celebration was tinged with caution. The ruling, while significant, offers only a temporary reprieve for the opposition. The decision can still be appealed, and the broader context is one of relentless pressure from Erdoğan’s ruling party. Just hours before the Ankara court’s announcement, Istanbul prosecutors filed fresh espionage charges against the city’s jailed mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, and his campaign manager, Necati Özkan. The indictment accuses them of foreign intelligence ties and financial misconduct linked to the 2019 municipal campaign—a move the CHP has denounced as “political fiction.”
Imamoğlu, who has emerged as Erdoğan’s chief rival and is widely viewed as the opposition’s best hope for the 2028 presidential race, was arrested in March on corruption charges. His detention set off the largest protests in Turkey since 2013, with thousands taking to the streets and the national currency, the lira, suffering a sharp sell-off. According to Reuters, more than 500 individuals, including 16 mayors from CHP-run municipalities, have been detained over the past year as part of what many see as a sweeping crackdown on the opposition.
The legal barrage against the CHP has not gone unnoticed by Turkey’s financial markets. The BIST100 stock exchange jumped 4.45 points shortly after the news of the court’s decision broke, a sign that investors momentarily breathed easier at the prospect of reduced political instability.
Analysts and constitutional experts have weighed in on the significance of the court’s ruling. Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu noted that the case was “critical” for Özel’s legitimacy and that the verdict would allow him to “strengthen his base” ahead of the 2028 presidential election. She added that the court had “probably hesitated to give such an annulment decision,” echoing a common sentiment that political party disputes should be handled internally, not by local courts. “When you ask constitutional experts, they have always said that any allegation within a political party must be dealt [with] by the higher election board because the political parties are private entities. A local court may not interfere,” she explained.
Despite the government’s insistence that the judiciary operates independently and that investigations focus solely on corruption, opposition figures and many observers remain skeptical. The CHP’s Özgür Özel has publicly accused President Erdoğan of orchestrating a “coup against the future ruling party” in a bid to cement one-party rule in Turkey. The government, for its part, has described the opposition as a corrupt network resembling “an octopus whose arms stretch to other parts of Turkey and abroad.”
The stakes could not be higher. If Erdoğan’s efforts to sideline the CHP succeed, it could clear the way for constitutional amendments that would extend presidential powers and potentially allow him to remain in office beyond 2028. Critics warn that such a move would mark another step in what some have called the “Russification” of Turkish politics: a system with elections but little real competition, institutions without true autonomy, and an opposition effectively neutered.
Meanwhile, the opposition continues to face a barrage of legal threats. In addition to the espionage charges against Imamoğlu and Özkan, Istanbul’s public prosecutor has also targeted Tele1 TV’s editor-in-chief, Merdan Yanardağ, who was detained on similar charges. “Tele1 editor-in-chief Merdan Yanardağ has been detained on charges of espionage in yet another dawn operation. They cannot call him a spy, nor can espionage come from true journalism! He must be released immediately,” Turkey’s journalists’ union wrote on X.
In a rare piece of good news for the opposition, Imamoğlu and six others were exonerated in a separate case of alleged tender rigging in 2015, when he was mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district. But the mayor still faces a litany of other charges, from falsifying his degree to insulting election officials and attempting to influence a fair trial.
For now, the CHP’s supporters are marching forward, as Özel declared on social media: "We will march forward without fear, without division, growing hope." The coming months will test whether this hope can withstand the mounting legal and political pressures, or whether Turkey’s oldest party will find itself once again in the crosshairs of a government determined to reshape the country’s political order.
The Ankara court’s decision may have offered the CHP a lifeline, but the battle for Turkey’s democratic future is far from over.
