Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will hold an extraordinary congress on September 21 after more than 900 delegates applied to Ankara’s Çankaya district election board, a step party officials cast as a legal safeguard amid escalating court cases.
The decision follows a ruling by the İstanbul 45th Civil Court of First Instance that annulled the Oct. 8, 2023 Istanbul provincial congress, suspended the elected chair Özgür Çelik and the entire provincial leadership, and appointed a five-member caretaker to run the branch. The court named Gürsel Tekin as interim chair alongside Zeki Şen, Hasan Babacan, Müjdat Gürbüz and Erkan Narsap.
The Justice Ministry stressed the decision is an interim injunction, not a final judgment, with appeal avenues open. Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç also said the Istanbul decision could influence the separate case in Ankara on the validity of the CHP’s national congresses.
There has already been turbulence inside the court-appointed team: Hasan Babacan announced he was withdrawing from the caretaker board, and a reserve candidate, Gökmen Güneş, publicly said he did not accept a role. Gürsel Tekin, for his part, told Turkish media the appointment surprised him and vowed to take the party to a congress “in unity.” Meanwhile, the CHP announced Tekin’s expulsion over accepting the court-appointed position.
CHP leader Özgür Özel called the Sept. 21 gathering a “technical and legal” move ahead of the Sept. 15 hearing in Ankara on lawsuits seeking to void the CHP’s 2023 and April 2025 congresses. Özel argued that even if a trustee were imposed on the national leadership on Sept. 15, “that trustee would last six days,” because delegates would “naturally and inevitably” re-elect the chair at the congress.
Market reaction was swift: the BIST 100 plunged nearly 6% intraday and closed over 3.5% lower, prompting Borsa İstanbul to impose the uptick rule on short selling for the rest of the session. Losses continued into the next day, led by banks.
The Istanbul decision is linked to a criminal case over alleged vote tampering at the 2023 provincial congress under Article 112 of the Political Parties Law; prosecutors say some delegates were offered cash or jobs to back Çelik. The İstanbul 72nd Criminal Court of First Instance accepted the indictment earlier and set a hearing date, while the Ankara 42nd Civil Court has requested the Istanbul case files as it weighs the national-level suits.
The broader backdrop is a hardening political climate after the March 2025 jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on corruption charges he denies—a move that sparked the largest protests in years and nearly 1,900 detentions, most later released.
Party figures say the Sept. 21 congress was organized without counting the signatures of the 196 Istanbul delegates suspended by the court, to avoid procedural objections. Turkish outlets report that the application cites agenda items, including a confidence vote in the current leadership and elections for party chair and the Party Assembly.
CHP deputy chair Gül Çiftci said the emergency congress, organized “with delegates’ signatures,” will reaffirm pluralism and democratic politics and resist “intervention attempts.” The CHP says it has appealed the Istanbul ruling.
Context: The CHP, which expanded its control of major cities in the 2024 local elections, has faced intensifying legal and police actions this year; Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained and jailed in March in a corruption case he denies, triggering large street protests.
