Ankara court dismisses case challenging CHP’s 2023 convention
ANKARA
An Ankara court dismissed a legal challenge to the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 38th ordinary convention held in November 2023, ruling on Oct. 24 that the case lacked substance.
The decision, reached during the fourth and final hearing in the case, cited the "absence of active hostility" and effectively removed the possibility of declaring the convention absolutely null — a legal status that would have invalidated the entire process due to fundamental procedural flaws.
The lawsuits, filed by former Hatay Mayor Lütfü Savaş and other former party delegates, alleged irregularities in the 2023 convention and demanded the annulment of the vote, removal of CHP leader Özgür Özel’s administration and reinstatement of former chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Ahead of the final hearing, the CHP moved to render the case moot by announcing a new ordinary convention scheduled for late November.
Earlier, the party held an extraordinary congress on Sept. 21, during which Özel and his administration were re-elected, after a court-appointed trustee had briefly taken charge of the party's Istanbul branch.
Party officials have characterized the lawsuits as politically motivated, saying the new vote nullified the need for further legal action.
The court had previously rejected plaintiffs’ requests for injunctions in September, setting the final session for Oct. 24.
Speaking at party headquarters after the ruling, Özel said the decision “should have come much earlier.”
“This debate is now over. Those on the side of autocracy and autocrats have lost, those on the side of democracy have won,” he told reporters.
"They found the tools to create discord within the CHP, [thinking] how to defeat it... The CHP’s structure did not accept these germs, and this issue was eliminated.”
CHP spokesperson Deniz Yücel welcomed the final ruling, saying it "reinforces trust in an independent and impartial judiciary."
"We have long stated that the congresses and conventions of political parties are subject to electoral law and YSK [Supreme Election Council] oversight and that this case is doomed to be dismissed," he wrote on X.
"Those who seek to discredit our immaculate convention and pin their hopes on this and similar cases may be disappointed, but as long as the judiciary remains independent and impartial, justice will prevail."
The same plaintiffs have also filed a separate lawsuit seeking to annul recent provincial congress elections held as part of the CHP's run-up to its upcoming convention, where Özel is set to seek a renewed mandate.
