Turkish police storm offices of main opposition CHP party, firing tear gas and rubber bullets

ANKARA (AP) — Police stormed the offices of Turkey’s main opposition CHP party on Sunday, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at party supporters and officials who had been holed up inside for three days.

It was a violent end to a standoff between members of the Republican Peoples’ Party, or CHP, and a leadership team appointed by an appeals court, escalating tensions between the opposition and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Supporters had barricaded the courtyard entrance with buses and the building with furniture. Footage taken by local media in the courtyard and inside the building showed clouds of tear gas as riot police stormed through the premises, before journalists were removed by the police.

Once the raid began, supporters attempted to resist the police by spraying them with fire extinguishers, but were quickly stopped. Doors, furniture and the ground floor windows were destroyed in the melee.

Among those inside the building was Ozgur Ozel, elected as party chairperson in November 2023 but dismissed by the court ruling. A video from inside his office at the start of the raid shows him being served the court order removing him, which he promptly ripped up.

Leaving party headquarters to cheers from supporters outside, Ozel told journalists: “We are leaving (the building) now only to reclaim it in such a way that no one will be able to meddle again. When we return, neither this administration nor the administration’s collaborators will dare do this once more.”

Ozel asks his supporters to rebuild the party for a third time

Ozel and his supporters then marched to Parliament about 8 kilometers (5 miles) away, joined by hundreds of passersby despite heavy rain and hail. Before arriving at Parliament, he stopped at the National Sovereignty Park where he asked the crowd if they were willing to rebuild the party for a third time.

The CHP was first established in 1923 by Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, but was shut down in a 1980 military coup, before reemerging in 1992.

Outside the legislature, Ozel rallied a crowd of hundreds, telling them that the CHP was “de facto shuttered” but would be reestablished.

Even if ousted as the chairperson of the CHP, Ozel is still an elected lawmaker from the western province of Manisa as well as the party’s group speaker.

The appeals court on Thursday nullified Ozel’s election as CHP chairperson, suspending him and members of the party’s executive board.

The court ruling said Ozel should be replaced by Kemal Kilicdaroglu, his predecessor, who led the party for 13 years but never won any national elections.

Meanwhile, Ozel, in his first and only election as party leader, delivered a decisive blow to Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party in the 2024 municipal polls.

The opposition says the decision was politically motivated to weaken the party as it struggles under waves of legal cases targeting its members and elected officials.

Erdogan’s eye is on the next election

The next presidential election isn’t due until 2028, but Erdogan can call for an early vote. His main challenger, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a CHP member, has been imprisoned since March last year and is on trial on corruption charges.

Many observers have said the legal cases against the CHP — mostly centered on corruption allegations — are aimed at neutralizing the party ahead of the next election. The government insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.

The vast majority of the party has rallied behind Ozel. He and most of the party had been inside the CHP headquarters in Ankara since Thursday’s ruling, with the new administration unable to enter. The rival teams were supposed to meet Sunday afternoon to figure a way out of the impasse.

Early on Sunday, a crowd gathered outside the office, watched by a growing police presence. Kilicdaroglu’s lawyer, Celal Celik, sent a request to Ankara police to assist in vacating the building, a move approved by the provincial governor.

The police raid comes at the start of a nine-day holiday for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, when many people are on vacation and out of the big cities.

Erdogan has ruled Turkey, first as prime minister and then as president, since 2003. His electoral record suffered a setback in 2019, when the CHP seized control of several major cities in local elections. In Istanbul, Imamoglu emerged as a popular and charismatic figure who many felt could successfully topple Erdogan.