‘This is an attempt to prevent government turnover through the ballot box’ • FRANCE 24 English

‘This is an attempt to prevent government turnover through the ballot box’ • FRANCE 24 English

Now in Turkey, tensions are rising as a court delays a crucial ruling that could oust Oxor Ozel, the leader of the main opposition CHP over alleged vote ringing. The move raises fears that President Erdogan is tightening his grip on power. Well, on Sunday, tens of thousands of people protested in the capital Anchora ahead of Monday’s hearing. This all follows the controversial arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ecram Imalolu in March, Erdogan’s main rival, triggering the biggest anti-government protests in over a decade. Ellen Gatesford takes a closer look at the case now. A sea of red covers Anchor’s Tandowan Square. Tens of thousands of people take to the streets to support Turkeykey’s main opposition party, the CHP. The group is facing a legal crackdown, including accusations of procedural irregularities during the party’s 2023 Congress, which could strip the party’s chairman, Osgur Ozel, of his title. Ozel denounced the move as politically motivated. This case is political. The allegations are slander. Our friends are innocent. This is a coup. It is a coup against the future president and government. We will resist. We will resist. We will resist. Judicial attacks on the CHP party have been mounting since the group’s large win over the ruling AK party in local elections in 2024 with hundreds jailed pending trial. Another figurehead of the group, Istanbul’s mayor, Ekra Mimeolu, is currently in prison on charges of corruption. Prior to his arrest, he was considered one of the most serious electoral rivals to President Erdogan. These events have enraged protesters. We’re here for our freedom, for democracy, for rights and law. Today I came here to speak out against the injustices that have been increasing recently and to demand our rights. As a young person preparing for exams, I’m very worried about the future. If Osgar Ozel is removed from his role as party chairman, the CHP already has plans to organize a fresh party congress on the 21st of September to elect a replacement to his post. Well, let’s talk more about this. Let’s bring in Burke Essen who is an associate professor of political sciences at Sabansi University. Burke, thank you so much for joining us on the program. Really great to have you. I first of all want to get Thanks for having me. Your insights on what’s happened today. I mean, it’s an anti-limatic day. We were expecting this hearing to happen and the ruling to be made. Why do you think the courts adjourned the case? Well, there could be several reasons why the courts decided to adjourn the case. Um, well, last week a similar decision was taken to replace uh the CHBs, the main opposition parties IstAnul provincial uh leader and that was met with a popular backlash. Uh there was uh indeed widespread protest that occurred uh in Istanul. So the government um may have been scared of sort of escalating at at this point especially considering that uh there was a massive rally organized in Ankara yesterday and you’re watching the uh footage. Um there might be um it’s still an indecisive uh moment within the ruling co coalition as to do as as to what to do with the main opposition party because uh if they were to uh take the decision to enal the convention results of the main opposition party. This would in effect uh redesign uh the main opposition party’s leadership and end multi-party system in Turkey as we know it. uh that is a drastic step and basically the government may have decided to um um not escalate things at this at this point and of course uh the third reason is that Turkey economy is is in a poor state and I don’t know if the government has sufficient foreign currency reserves to back up uh such an um such an anti-democratic move because clearly the stock markets uh would have responded in a very negative way. uh instead the government decided well the courts uh decided to delay this process but considering how um uh to to what extent the courts are packed in the country I think the government may be delaying this process um um so that there would be a better time to to strike at the main opposition party and we did see that uh Turkish stocks did rally actually after uh that decision from the court today. This is all coming amid what feels like a widening crackdown. More than 130 party activists and officials are now in prison over corruption or terrorism charges. Do you is it your opinion that these charges against uh the leader is politically motivated? Well, I mean it is difficult for me to say anything definitive about this case, but um it seems to be based on uh dubious grounds. uh not least because of the fact that the main opposition parties convention took place almost two years ago and uh the convention results were already ratified uh by um by the higher election council uh which happens to be the highest uh judicial body uh to oversee uh legal matters involving political parties. So to to to basically go back two years in time and try to enull uh election results uh of of a main uh opposition party’s convention uh sounds a bit suspicious and so far uh the prosecutor could not really marshall uh any substantive evidence to suggest that indeed uh the delegate supports uh were bought uh by Ursal the current uh CHP leader uh since that convention CHP already went on to win the 2024 local elections and according to current opinion polls it is uh the largest party in the country in fact surpassed the ruling party. So considering all of these developments, it is very difficult for me to really see um any a any truth uh in these um uh in these allegations and in a few days time the main opposition party is going to have an extraordinary convention uh with the party’s current leader as the only candidate. So there doesn’t seem to be uh any legitimate grounds to challenge uh this convention. I think the real reason why the courts are going after the main opposition party leader is because he has been very successful uh in a in an increasingly authoritarian uh context and I think uh Turkeykey’s president Erdogan is very worried that at the polls in the upcoming election the main opposition party can uh score some uh electoral victories and so this is an attempt uh to prevent government turnover uh through the ballot box which is concerning because if this process succeeds uh then Turkey is going to revert to um a fullyfledged autocracy. Well, back I do want to get your opinion on um a question that some are asking whether Erdogan will extend his rule beyond 2028. His nationalist uh ruling partners have urged him to do so calling uh for a constitutional change to abolish term limits. Do you think he will go forward with that? Oh, he has already stated that he wants to um just a few months ago he stated in unequivocal terms that as long as he lives, he wants to serve. Uh and and clearly having been uh the country’s president for almost u a decade now uh he he wants to retain his presidential position. So uh the ruling coalition needs to figure out a way to extend his term because currently he’s facing presidential term limits. Um so they will either seek to amend the constitution and for that um they need to um receive support from an opposition party in the parliament or um they need to persuade uh three-fifths of the parliamentarians in the Turkish legislative body uh to go for early elections. Uh so one of these two options I think they will push for uh within the coming uh year and a half. Uh so far uh some um some government heavyweights suggested that uh Turkey may go for early elections in the autumn of 2027. Uh so we have exactly or around uh two years until that time. Burke really appreciate you coming on the program. Thank you so much for your insights today on Prime News Paris. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

An Ankara court on Monday adjourned a key hearing into alleged vote buying that could upend the leadership of Turkey’s main opposition CHP party, which has been battling a growing array of legal challenges. Speaking on FRANCE 24’s, Berk Esen, Associate Professor of Political Sciences at Sabancı University, says that Turkey’s President Erdogan is ‘very worried’ that the CHP can score electoral victories in the upcoming polls.
#Turkey #CHP #Erdogan

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