Police officers on September 8 raided the Istanbul HQ of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Headline writers got busy as, ahead of the police arrival, party officials built barricades at the entrance door. However, resistance crumbled when officers used pepper spray.

Thousands of police were deployed to block off streets around the headquarters on the evening of September 7.

Gursel Tekin, head of the trustees appointed by a court to replace the CHP’s Istanbul party management, had announced his intention to arrive at the building on September 8.

Clashes and scuffles between police and party officials continued all night long and into the morning. During the afternoon on September 8, police pushed a way into the building for Tekin.

Genius or own goal?

On September 2, the Istanbul 45th (Asliye Hukuk) civil court of first instance appointed the group of trustees led by Tekin to take over the headquarters. At that point there were five trustees, but two later resigned.

Since the ruling, the CHP management has been circulating that it makes no sense and that it would not surrender the Istanbul HQ to Tekin.

So, although the regime has in plain sight set about dismantling the so-called main opposition, Turkey has remained in a relaxed mood.

The latest bright idea introduced by CHP chair Ozgur Ozel was to move the Istanbul HQ to another address. Tekin responded that he was fine with that decision and that he would happily carry out his duties at the old address. Those who thought Ozel’s “move the HQ” gambit was genius were perhaps thinking again. Did Ozel score an own goal?

Ozel’s tactics have also included making the HQ his official place of work in Istanbul. Though he was in Istanbul on September 9, he was yet to go to his “office” while this article was being written.

The next hearing of the CHP Istanbul trial at Istanbul 45th court is scheduled for October 3.

Turkey’s high election board YSK, meanwhile, has ruled that a process launched by the CHP to hold a new Istanbul party congress can continue. In some parts of Istanbul, required neighbourhood elections for delegates have been completed and district elections will be held.

Additionally, the YSK ruled that the court has the right to appoint a trustee at CHP Istanbul.

More genius

Ozel also ordered party delegates to schedule a national party congress for September 21. 

On September 15, the next hearing in a trial concerning the November 2023 national party congress, which is being conducted by the Ankara 42nd (Asliye Hukuk) civil court of first instance, is to be held.

The thinking of the genius Ozel is once again difficult to follow. He appears to be saying that he’s sure that the diaried congress will reinstate him even if Ankara 42nd court appoints a trustee to replace him on September 15.

Journalist raises a point…

Ozel’s bright ideas were also in focus in April when government trolls circulated that the government planned to seize the CHP. The party leader held a congress, what else? He projected confidence that the plan for a takeover of the party by the regime had been nullified.

During a press conference, a journalist raised the point that the Erdogan administration was actually targeting the legitimacy of the CHP’s previous congress, alleging irregularities as regards delegates. She asked whether Ozel was planning to announce new local Istanbul polls for electing congress delegates.

Ozel responded that, according to the political parties law (an infamous law introduced by the 1980 coup regime to install “little dictators” at political parties to avoid the need to deal with crowds of politicians), polls for delegates could not be renewed when an extraordinary congress has been called.

As things turned out, the Istanbul delegates that the court has disqualified were told by the CHP to not sign the latest petition to hold the September 21 congress – Ozel is again sure that he has solved the problem.

On September 8, the CHP also applied to hold a September 24 city congress in Istanbul.

Avoiding reality

What we have here are moves that are apparently logical, but are not actually logical. The decisions avoid a simple reality. The developments in play have nothing to do with the law. They are all political decisions of the regime. Legal moves against such rulings are a perfect nonsense.

The CHP is regularly seen pursuing courses of action through the constitutional court, other courts or the high election board (YSK). Someone who has no idea about Turkey may applaud. Someone with an idea about how things work in the country might bury their head in their hands in despair.

In Turkey’s reality, all courts are controlled by the president, the country’s leader of 22 years Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Nevertheless, occasionally, court rulings that Erdogan does not like are issued. What happens next is that he simply does not comply with the rulings. And in some cases, he replaces the judges concerned.

There are, for instance, countless rulings issued down the years by both local and international courts demanding the release of Erdogan’s “star” prisoners Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtas. They remain sat in jail.

There are many cases like this.

Reality is expensive

Why is it, an observer may ask, that the CHP serves as its opponent’s chimpanzee in a circus.

First of all, asking such a question tends to distract from the fact that a main opposition party is a critical component for a regime as it portrays legitimacy. Taking a British allegory, it might be said that the CHP is not the Turkish republic’s opposition, but “His Majesty’s opposition”.

So we come to Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and presidential candidate of the CHP who has been behind bars since mid-March. Imamoglu spoiled the game. In the 2019 contest for the mayorship of Istanbul, he successfully challenged the government when it attempted to claim its candidate had won. Erdogan’s man lost, and lost again in a rerun.

Imamoglu is seriously popular and if Erdogan left the wheels to turn as they should, he would be looking at a repeat of the Istanbul episode in a head to head with his nemesis in the next presidential election. Trumped-up charges against Imamoglu were no surprise.

Ozel, who served as a deputy to former CHP party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, was elected to the party leadership with Imamoglu’s support. That support was much founded on Ozel’s commitment to run processes ensuring Imamoglu the party’s presidential candidacy.

Imamoglu cannot mount a challenge to Erdogan without the backing of resources the CHP receives as the accepted opposition. Of course, the regime only accepts the CHP so long as it serves as a whipping boy. Rejecting that role in Turkey’s political theatre in serious pursuit of power would mean rejecting billions of dollars from the state purse.

CHP cadres would rebel and overthrow the party management if such a sacrifice was on the cards. However, with the recent run of events, state trustee Tekin is now in charge of the money in Istanbul and the regime may soon be in charge of the CHP’s national funds as well.

Whether Imamoglu has a Plan B in the event that he loses control over the CHP is questionable.

“Interesting occurrences on the rise”

On September 3, bne IntelliNews noted: “Interesting occurrences are once again on the rise.”

Also on September 3, a 19-year-old cut the throat of an Istanbul prosecutor. Then, on September 8, a 16-year-old mounted a gun attack on an Izmir police station, shooting dead two police officers.

Growing violence may push the country into another state of emergency.