Two days before a trial that may end his reign at the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkish main opposition leader Özgür Özel was in Germany, calling for support. Speaking at the Social Democratic Party (SPD) conference in Berlin, Özel sought to rally like-minded German counterparts for his party tainted with allegations of corruption, going all the way up to his office. In response, the SPD passed a motion calling for the release of CHP’s Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoğlu, but they had no words for Özel himself.
On Monday, a court in Ankara will decide upon the legitimacy of an intraparty election held in November 2023 that brought Özel to power in Türkiye’s oldest party. Özel’s supporters in the party, including Imamoğlu who was arrested in March on separate graft charges related to his alleged wrongdoings at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, are accused of buying votes for Özel during the 2023 election in which he ran against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. If the court rules for cancelation of the election, the CHP will have a chance to appeal the verdict, a process that may take months and prolong Özel’s tenure. If the court rules for “absolute nullification,” the election will be deemed invalid and the party’s top seat will either be handed to Özel’s predecessor Kılıçdaroğlu or a trustee will be appointed before a new election. Kılıçdaroğlu, at the cost of alienating himself with his party now dominated by pro-Özel circles, expressed that he was open to take the reins again, instead of “seeing the party run by a trustee.”
In Germany, Özel renewed his party’s pledge to achieve full EU membership if they came to power and urged Europe to prioritize “democracy” instead of economic or security policy interests. Although the EU has sometimes had shaky relations with Türkiye under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it still prizes cooperation with the government, especially in terms of security under the shadow of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Türkiye plays a critical role as a country enjoying good ties with both sides of the conflict, as well as the main actor in the southeastern flank of NATO where it commands the second-largest army of the alliance. In addition, the EU recently courted Ankara for partnership in the defense industry, something even foes of Türkiye acknowledge as spectacularly enhanced with locally made uncrewed aerial vehicles and fighter jets.
Even if the CHP wins the court battle against allegations of vote buying, Imamoğlu, who was declared a future presidential candidate of the party after his arrest, will have a hard time to vindicate him as more people come forward to confess the wrongdoings of the alleged criminal network set up by the former mayor to enrich himself and other CHP members.
Addressing an event in Istanbul on Saturday, President Erdoğan slammed how the opposition looted resources of Istanbul. “Their own bureaucrats, people they did business with openly confess their wrongdoings. It is now clear how resources that should be spent for the public are spent for designing the political ambitions,” he said, referring to offers of cash, jobs and privileges allegedly made to CHP delegates in exchange of voting for Özel in the 2023 intraparty election.
“More tentacles of the octopus are being uncovered,” Erdoğan added, referring to his earlier analogy about party’s network of corruption.
“Nowadays, all they can think about is the shady election and the possible absolute nullification of the election,” he said.
“It is sad to see the chair of a party that boasts being part of the National Forces (which fought invaders during post-World War One battle of independence) beg for democracy from foreign politicians. He kowtows to them so that they would exert pressure on us. They did nothing good for this country and their toxic politics is harming Türkiye and its economy,” he said.
