Turkish Police Storm Main Opposition CHP Party Offices, Protests Erupt Against Action

Supporters had barricaded the courtyard entrance with buses and the building with furniture. Footage taken by local media in the courtyard and inside the building showed clouds of tear gas as riot police stormed through the premises, before journalists were removed by the police.

Once the raid began, supporters attempted to resist the police by spraying them with fire extinguishers, but were quickly stopped. Doors, furniture and the ground floor windows were destroyed in the melee.

Among those inside the building was Özgür Özel, elected as party chairperson in November 2023 but dismissed by the court ruling. A video from inside his office at the start of the raid shows him being served the court order removing him, which he promptly ripped up.

Leaving party headquarters to cheers from supporters outside, Özel told journalists: “We are leaving (the building) now only to reclaim it in such a way that no one will be able to meddle again. When we return, neither this administration nor the administration’s collaborators will dare do this once more.”

Protests erupt

Turkish social media has been flooded with opposition-related posts after police stormed the CHP offices.

“This is the official end to democracy in Türkiye," the well known Turkish journalist and author Ece Temelkuran wrote on X May 24 as developments unfolded.

This is the official end to democracy in Türkiye. The main opposition party, the founding party of the Turkish Republic, is taken over by the regime, and the new puppet “leader” is installed by Erdogan. If European leaders continue their dealings with Erdogan as if it is still… https://t.co/Is9CsXNyjY

— Ece Temelkuran (@ETemelkuran) May 24, 2026

Commentators and X handles like Istanbul Metropolitan News (below) shared videos of the attack on CHP offices and spontaneous as well as political mobilisations in response. Many posts reported developments in Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city on the Aegean coast and a long-time secular and opposition bastion .

Police used water cannons and pepper spray against people attending Özgür Özel’s rally in İzmir, reads a post from the handle, as other reports came in of police suppressing the protests.

SON DAKİKA | Özgür Özel’in İzmir’deki mitingine katılan vatandaşlara polis tazyikli suyla ve biber gazıyla müdahale etti. pic.twitter.com/Ns8zBIpWi8

— İstanbul Büyükşehir Haber (@ibbhaaber) May 26, 2026

Özel asks his supporters to rebuild the party for a third time

Özel and his supporters then marched to Parliament about 8 kilometers (5 miles) away, joined by hundreds of passersby despite heavy rain and hail. Before arriving at Parliament, he stopped at the National Sovereignty Park where he asked the crowd if they were willing to rebuild the party for a third time.

The CHP was first established in 1923 by Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, but was shut down in a 1980 military coup, before reemerging in 1992.

Outside the legislature, Özel rallied a crowd of hundreds, telling them that the CHP was “de facto shuttered” but would be reestablished.

Even if ousted as the chairperson of the CHP, Özel is still an elected lawmaker from the western province of Manisa as well as the party’s group speaker.

The appeals court on Thursday nullified Özel’s election as CHP chairperson, suspending him and members of the party’s executive board. The ruling said Özel should be replaced by Kemal Kilicdaroglu, his predecessor, who led the party for 13 years but never won any national elections.

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

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

Erdogan’s eye is on the next election

The next presidential election isn’t due until 2028, but Erdogan can call for an early vote. His main challenger, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a CHP member, has been imprisoned since March last year and is on trial on corruption charges.

Many observers have said the legal cases against the CHP – mostly centered on corruption allegations – are aimed at neutralising the party ahead of the next election. The government insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.

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

Early on Sunday, a crowd gathered outside the office, watched by a growing police presence. Kilicdaroglu’s lawyer, Celal Celik, sent a request to Ankara police to assist in vacating the building, a move approved by the provincial governor.

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 out of the big cities.

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

(AP, with additional inputs)