Inadmissible removal of CHP leader: Erdoğan’s latest blow to Turkish opposition

President Erdoğan is once again weaponising the Turkish judiciary to clear political opponents from his path ahead of the upcoming presidential elections.

Today, the Ankara Regional Court of Justice ordered the interim removal of Özgür Özel from his role as leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

The Party of European Socialists (PES) stands in full solidarity with Özel and our associate member party CHP. We condemn this latest abuse of judicial power.
The PES demands that the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy denounce the move of Erdogan and take action to defend democracy in Turkey.

The CHP has faced unlawful state targeting ever since its historic breakthrough in the March 2024 local elections, resulting in the detention and arrest of over 20 mayors and hundreds of municipal officials. Following the severe blow of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu's arrest in March 2025, the judicial ousting of Özgür Özel represents a deliberate attempt by the regime to stifle Turkey's primary opposition movement.

The PES has consistently supported the CHP, having deployed multiple solidarity missions to Turkey to actively protest the unlawful arrests of its elected officials and demanded their release, as well as the immediate release of the imprisoned Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu.