Police entered the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) headquarters in Ankara after hours of tension over the enforcement of a court ruling that annulled the party’s 2023 congress and reinstated former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
The standoff began after lawyers representing Kılıçdaroğlu and a group of CHP lawmakers supporting him came to the party headquarters and sought to meet the Özgür Özel administration. The building’s outer gate was locked, while riot police were deployed outside.
The Ankara Governor’s Office later instructed police to implement the evacuation of the headquarters following an application by Kılıçdaroğlu’s side.
Police entered the compound later in the day after breaking the chains at the garden gate and parking entrance. Tear gas was used inside the building, according to reports and the raw account, as officers moved toward the 12th floor, where Özel was present with several lawmakers and Istanbul provincial chair Özgür Çelik.
Özel was served a notice from the enforcement office regarding the evacuation of the headquarters under the decision of the Ankara Regional Court’s 36th Civil Chamber.
He tore up the notice before leaving the building after the police intervention.
“Everyone is doing what suits them,” Özel told supporters outside. “We are leaving to take back our home in a way that no one will dare touch again.”
Özel later walked from the party headquarters to parliament with lawmakers and supporters. During the march, he said the CHP did not need a building to continue its political struggle.
“CHP was founded in tents on battlefields,” he said. “To bring CHP to power, what is needed is not a building but the will to struggle.”
He later met lawmakers and party members at the CHP group hall in parliament and held a closed-door meeting with Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş.
Addressing supporters near parliament, Özel said the party’s “new headquarters” would be in the Turkish parliament.
Kılıçdaroğlu’s press adviser Atakan Sönmez said Kılıçdaroğlu was saddened by the scenes at the headquarters and planned to go to the building on the second day of the Eid holiday.
The CHP’s provincial mayors issued a statement saying they stood with Özel, while Yavaş said the party should convene a congress within 45 days.
Several people were reported injured or affected during the events. CHP Isparta provincial chair Hasan Karaca broke his leg after falling while trying to enter through the parking gate, while CHP Aydın lawmaker Süleyman Bülbül was taken to hospital after being affected by tear gas, according to the raw report.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into the incidents, including allegations of violating the law on meetings and demonstrations, resisting police and intentional injury.
