Provided by Huseyin Hayatsversers and Jonathan Spisher
Ankara (Reuters) -The Court of Equity on Monday will decide whether to overthrow the main opposition manager, what some believe that after almost a year of legal coping with the party is a country, a test due to the gloomy balance of democracy and autocracy.
Hundreds of members of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) were imprisoned by waiting trial related to suspected corruption and terrorism, including the main political competitor of President Tayyip Erdogan, Istanbul, Imamogl.
An unprecedented deal that has eradicated the ranks of the CHP leaders also increased concern about what critics call Turkey’s autocratic slides, where courts, media, army, central bank and other independent authorities have Erdogan in 22 years.
Centrist CHP, who denies the accusations for him, has a neck and neck with Erdogan Islam’s roots, conservative AK Party (AKP), and its poor, stormy leader Ozgur Ozel rose after the Imamogl detention.
This year, after a few dozen large rallies of Anti-Dogan Street, Ozel appeared as another president’s biggest rival.
His political future risks Monday’s ruling, when the Ankara court will decide whether in 2023 Flip the CHP congress for alleged procedural irregularities. If most analysts expect, Ozel will be deprived of the CHP chairwoman, which he won at the meeting.
The court was then able to name the trustee to lead the party, or to restore former chairman Kemal Kilicdarogl, who was defeated by Erdogan in 2023. In the election. It could also delay the ruling.
Kilicdaroglu lost many members of the CHP, who criticize almost complete silence throughout the coping, confidence and see that he has grown close to Erdogan, the accusations he denies.
“If such a judicial coup against the main opposition, it would be the collapse of a multidimensional system in Turkey,” said Berk Essen, a political analyst at Sabanci University, to annul the Ozel as a CHP leader about any ruling.
Boost Erdogan?
Such a ruling could direct the opposition to further strife and intrusion by increasing the ability of Energan to expand its authority.
The CHP, the Mustapha Kemalk of Mustafa, the founder of Turkey, denies all the suspicions that it faces as unfounded and politically motivated, emphasizing that they only covered the municipalities, which it ruled after the extensive local election victories in 2024.
Erdogan’s government rejects this and says the judiciary is independent and needs time to sort through CHP corruption.
Erdogan said this week that ignoring judgments “is an obvious disregard for the rule of law. Such irresponsibility will not be tolerated.”
Government officials and some analysts say that in 2024 Local elections where voters presented the Erdogan AKP with its greatest defeat of all time, showed that democracy, despite critics, supports the NATO member country.
“Judicial coup”
The first CHP arrests began in October last year. When Imamogl was detained in March, Lira and Turkey’s assets fell, forcing the central bank to eliminate the speed reduction cycle.
The markets declined again two weeks ago, when the court ordered the removal of the head of the Party Istanbul province due to alleged violations in a separate Vote of Congress.
Istanbul’s ruling prompted the dramatic sign of police in the city CHP headquarters and the efforts of legislators to prevent them with tables and chairs. Some analysts believe it is a precursor to Monday’s decision in Ankara.
Minister of Justice Yilmaz Tunc said the former decision influenced the latter.
However, under the Constitution, only the Supreme Electoral Board – not any court – has the power to oversee the elections, including party congresses. The Board has already approved the Ozel chosen as a chair.
Ozel said the CHP would refuse to transfer his duties after the court’s ruling and that he would remain at its Ankara headquarters. If necessary, he said the party could summon millions of Turkish to the streets to protest.
To protect Ozel, the vast majority of CHP delegates on September 21st. Already urged him to elect an extraordinary congress. Ozel says that all the court has appointed to replace it will not be able to cancel this plan.
(Husyin Hayatsver and Jonathan Spicer Reports; Edited by Helen Popper)