EditTens of thousands protest against legal crackdown on Turkey’s main opposition party
Court case could oust the head of the main opposition after a year-long legal crackdown on hundreds of its members
Tens of thousands of people protested in the capital Ankara on Sunday (14 September) against a court case that could oust the head of the main opposition on Monday after a year-long legal crackdown on hundreds of its members.
Live footage showed crowds chanting for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s resignation while waving Turkish flags and party banners.
The court decision on Monday whether to invalidate the 2023 congress of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) over alleged procedural irregularities could reshape the party, rattle financial markets and influence the timing of a general election set for 2028. The court could also delay the ruling.
Speaking at Sunday’s rally, CHP leader Özgür Özel said the government was trying to cling to power by undermining democratic norms and suppressing dissent following opposition victories in local elections over the past year.
Özel also called for a snap general election.
Turkish opposition vows to resist
“This case is political. The accusations are slander. Our comrades are innocent. What’s being done is a coup — a coup against the future president, against the future government. We will resist, we will resist, we will resist,” Özel said in his address to the crowd.
The government says the judiciary is independent and denies any political motives.
Turkey has detained more than 500 people, including 17 mayors over the last year in Istanbul and other CHP-run municipalities around the country as part of corruption investigations, according to a Reuters review.
Hundreds of members of the CHP have been jailed pending trial in a sprawling probe into alleged corruption and terrorism links, among them President Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival – Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
The arrest of İmamoğlu in March sparked the country’s largest protests in a decade where hundreds of thousands took to the streets, prompting a brief but sharp selloff in the lira and other Turkish assets.
In a letter sent from prison and read aloud at the rally in Ankara, İmamoğlu wrote that the government is attempting to pre-determine the outcome of the next election by sidelining legitimate rivals. He also accused the government of undermining democracy through politically motivated judicial actions and other efforts to suppress dissent.
“The era of ‘I’ in this country will end, and the era of ‘we’ will begin. One person will lose, and everyone else will win,” İmamoğlu wrote.
The crowd applauded and chanted “President İmamoğlu” after the letter read aloud.
With Reuters.
Caption: Ozgur Ozel, leader of Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition party, addresses supporters during a party rally in Ankara, Turkey, 14 September 2025. EPA/NECATI SAVAS
Updated: September 15, 2025 - 06:20
