İstanbul Bans Rallies as Police Seal CHP Headquarters
Turkish authorities in İstanbul imposed a three-day ban on public gatherings late Sunday and ringed the Republican People’s Party (CHP) provincial headquarters with police barricades, moving to block a Monday rally protesting a court-ordered shake-up of the opposition’s local leadership. The governor’s office said the ban covered several central districts as officers restricted access to the building where court-appointed trustee Gürsel Tekin, a former CHP lawmaker, was set to take charge.
The escalation followed last week’s ruling that suspended the CHP’s provincial board over alleged irregularities in the party’s 2023 congress and installed Tekin as interim chair. CHP leaders urged supporters to assemble at the headquarters ahead of his arrival. The internet watchdog NetBlocks reported restrictions on X, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp in Turkey soon after the call to rally. Critics cast the court move as political engineering designed to weaken the country’s largest opposition force.
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The standoff lands in a fraught moment for Turkish politics. Authorities have intensified probes of CHP-run municipalities over alleged corruption, culminating in a March arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a leading challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The detention sparked the largest street protests in more than a decade, while the government said the judiciary acts independently and denied political interference.
Another test looms in Ankara, where a separate court is expected this month to rule on challenges to the 2023 main congress that elevated Özgür Özel to party leader. An adverse decision could even reopen the door for former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. With police cordons in place, social platforms throttled, and the provincial leadership under a trustee, the fight for control of Turkey’s most powerful opposition party is playing out both in court and on the streets of İstanbul.
