A civil court in Turkey’s capital dismissed a lawsuit seeking to annul the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 2023 congress and unseat party chair Özgür Özel, ruling that the case no longer had legal basis after the CHP re-elected its leadership at an extraordinary congress last month.
The case alleged vote-buying and other irregularities at the November 2023 convention where Özel replaced longtime leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. But the judge said the matter had become academic—“loss of subject matter”—given the party’s September 21 vote that reaffirmed its leadership slate. The Ankara 42nd Civil Court of First Instance cited both lack of standing and mootness in its reasoning, according to local reporting.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they were surprised by the decision and would appeal.
Özel welcomed the outcome and framed the suit as part of a broader effort to tarnish the opposition through the courts, a characterization echoed in wire reports as critics decry expanding legal pressure on the CHP. The party has consistently denied any wrongdoing in its internal elections.
Turkish assets rallied on the news. The Borsa İstanbul BIST 100 index rose more than 4% after the verdict, led by banks, while the lira firmed modestly against the dollar. Sovereign risk gauges have been hovering in the mid-260s basis points area in recent sessions.
Had the court annulled the 2023 congress, Özel—who first won the post in that vote—could have been removed, potentially triggering fresh turmoil inside Turkey’s largest opposition party. Instead, Friday’s ruling preserves the status quo that CHP leaders attempted to lock in when they reconvened and re-elected Özel on September 21 to blunt the impact of any adverse judgment.
The decision lands amid a fraught year for the opposition. Courts previously annulled the CHP’s 2023 Istanbul provincial congress and briefly installed an interim trustee, while a separate case in September threatened the national leadership until it was pushed to today’s session. The party portrays these rulings and investigations as politicized; the government says the judiciary is independent.
