Turkish court ousts opposition leader, deepening fears for democracy

Turkey’s main opposition took a crushing legal blow when an Ankara appeals court annulled the Republican People’s Party’s 2023 congress, effectively removing Ozgur Ozel and reviving Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s claim to the leadership. The ruling deepened fears that Turkey’s judiciary is being used to reshape the opposition before the next election, while also jolting investors who saw the case as another sign of political instability.

The decision lands far beyond a party-room dispute. Borsa Istanbul fell more than 6% after the ruling, triggering a circuit breaker, and Turkish government bonds sold off sharply. The lira also came under pressure, with state authorities stepping in to defend the currency, underscoring that the fight over the CHP is now an economic-confidence story as much as a democratic one.

The case centered on the CHP’s November 2023 congress in Ankara, where Ozel ended Kilicdaroglu’s 13-year run as party chairman. Ankara prosecutors had alleged vote buying, delegate manipulation and kickbacks, accusations the CHP has rejected as politically motivated. The appeals court treated that congress as legally invalid, and Reuters-linked reporting said it ordered Kilicdaroglu to replace Ozel. Earlier in 2025, an Ankara court had thrown out a related challenge as moot after the party held an extraordinary congress in September 2025 and re-elected Ozel, making the new ruling a stark reversal.

The broader context is even more severe. Reuters says hundreds of opposition members and elected officials have been detained since 2024 in a widening crackdown that has put sustained pressure on Erdogan’s challengers. Among the highest-profile targets is Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been behind bars for nearly a year and is widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival. Imamoglu went on trial in March 2026 alongside more than 400 defendants in a corruption case, a prosecution that has further sharpened fears that opposition politics is being pushed into the courtroom.

After the ruling, Ozel gathered party leaders to map out next steps, while supporters were called to CHP headquarters in Ankara to protest. CHP deputy parliamentary group chair Ali Mahir Basarir called the decision “an attempted coup carried out through the judiciary” and “a blow against the will of 86 million people.” For a party running roughly even with Erdogan’s AK Party in polls, the verdict was more than an internal setback. It suggested that Turkey’s struggle over power, institutions and succession is now being fought in the courts, on the streets and in the markets at once.