Turkish authorities have ordered the evacuation of the headquarters of the opposition party CHP. That order followed a court ruling deposing party leader Özgür Özel.
A witness saw officers firing tear gas and storming the building. Özel has made it clear that he does not want to leave the office. He called the court ruling a ‘black day for democracy’
That ruling stated last week that the outcome of the party congress in which he was elected leader in 2023 was invalid. Therefore, his predecessor Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had to be reappointed as party leader.
The 77-year-old Kılıçdaroğlu led the CHP for about thirteen years. The party pushed him aside three years ago after he lost the presidential election to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than two decades.
Özel wants a new party congress to be held as soon as possible. The top of the CHP, Turkey’s main opposition party, says the judge’s intervention amounts to a ‘legal coup’.
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