Turkish police storm offices of main opposition CHP party, firing tear gas and rubber bullets – Las Vegas Sun News

ANKARA (AP) — Police stormed the offices of the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
main opposition party, the CHP
Sunday, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at party supporters and officials who had been cooped up inside for three days.

It was a violent end to a standoff between members of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and a leadership team appointed by an appeals court.

Footage taken by local media on Sunday from the courtyard and inside the building showed clouds of tear gas as riot police stormed the premises, before the journalists were removed by police. The supporters initially tried to resist the police by dousing them with fire extinguishers, but were quickly arrested. The doors, furniture and windows on the ground floor were destroyed.

Among those inside the building was
Ozgur Ozel
elected president of the party in November 2023 but dismissed from office by decision of the court of appeal.

Leaving the headquarters building to cheers and applause from supporters outside, Ozel told reporters gathered at the entrance: “We are leaving (the building) now only to reclaim it so that no one can intervene again. When we return, neither this administration nor its collaborators will dare to do it again.”

Ozel and his supporters then began marching towards Parliament more than 5 kilometers from the CHP headquarters.

Tensions had been rising since Thursday, when an appeals court annulled Ozel’s election as CHP president, suspending him and members of the party’s executive council.

The court ruling said Ozel should be replaced by Kemal Kilicdaroglu, his predecessor, who led the party for 13 years but never won a national election.

Meanwhile, Ozel, in his first and only election as party leader, dealt a decisive blow to Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party in the 2024 municipal elections.

The opposition says the decision was politically motivated to weaken the party as it struggles against
waves of trials
targeting its members and elected officials.

Immediately after the raid began, Ozel posted a three-minute video on social media in which he said: “We are under attack. Our crime? Making our party the number one party in Turkey after 47 years. Our crime? Defeating the Justice and Development Party.”

“We will resist here until the end. And if they drive us out by force, we will resume our march towards (becoming) the administration in the public square,” he declared.

The next presidential election won’t take place until 2028, but Erdogan may call for early voting. His main challenger, the mayor of Istanbul
Ekrem Imamoglu
member of the CHP, has been imprisoned since March last year and is on trial for corruption.

Many observers have said the legal proceedings against the CHP – mainly centered on corruption allegations – aim to neutralize the party before the next election. The government insists that Turkish courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.

The vast majority of the party rallied behind Ozel. He and most party members had been inside the CHP headquarters in Ankara, the capital, since Thursday’s ruling, with the new administration unable to enter. The rival teams were scheduled to meet on Sunday afternoon to find a way out of the impasse.

Early Sunday, a crowd gathered outside the office, watched by a growing police presence. In his social media video, Ozel said the outsiders were sent to intimidate CHP members.

Kilicdaroglu’s lawyer, Celal Celik, asked Ankara police to help him evacuate the building. The Ankara governor’s office issued a statement approving the request.

The police raid comes at the start of a nine-day holiday for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, when many people are on vacation and outside major cities.

Erdogan has led Turkey, first as prime minister and then as president, since 2003. His electoral record suffered a setback in 2019, when the CHP took control of several major cities in local elections. In Istanbul, Imamoglu emerged as a popular and charismatic figure who many believed could succeed in toppling Erdogan.