Turkish riot police use water cannons ahead of deposed opposition leader’s speech to rally
Riot police used water cannons and pepper spray to block the opposition rally as supporters tried to reach Cumhuriyet Square, officials and local media said.
- On Tuesday, riot police in Turkey fired tear gas and water cannons to break up a rally called by ousted CHP leader Ozgur Ozel in Izmir, deploying steel barriers and water cannon trucks to block crowds from reaching Cumhuriyet Square.
- A court ruling on May 21 overturned a 2023 party primary that had elected Ozel as CHP leader, prompting a Thursday court order removing him and core party leadership from their posts in what many consider politically motivated.
- Police stormed CHP headquarters in Ankara on Sunday, firing plastic pellets and pepper spray to end a standoff where Ozel and supporters had barricaded themselves, two days before the Izmir confrontation.
- Despite police blockades, Ozel reached Cumhuriyet Square and delivered his speech, calling on the CHP's 2 million members to choose their own leadership and telling AFP that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has "lost all restraint."
- The CHP now polls level with Erdogan's ruling AKP and won major victories in 2024 municipal elections, with Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the party's presidential candidate, imprisoned since March last year on charges observers describe as politically motivated.
48 Articles
48 Articles
Crackdown escalates on Turkish opposition
Riot police erected steel barriers and used water cannon to prevent crowds from gathering to hear a speech by the deposed leader of Turkey’s main opposition party in Izmir’s central Cumhuriyet Square on May 26. Özgür Özel and the core leadership of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) were removed from their posts five days earlier by a court order that they charged was politically motivated. Following issuance of the order, Özel and his supporte…
CHP’s Cyprus branch sides with Ozel as Turkish political crisis deepens
The Cyprus branch office of Turkish opposition political party the CHP has sided with Ozgur Ozel, with the party and Turkish politics at large now engulfed by a crisis after a court annulled the results of Turkey’s largest opposition political party the CHP’s 2023 party conference and thus removed Ozel from office. Social media accounts run by the office have continued to repost content published by Ozel alongside its own social media publicatio…
Turkish riot police use water cannons ahead of deposed Opposition leader's speech to rally
Ozgur Ozel and the core leadership of the Republican People's Party, or CHP, were removed from their posts on May 26 by a court order that many people consider to be politically motivated
After the dismissal of the Turkish opposition leader Özel there are further protests. Although the police are acting against him and his supporters, the ex-CHP leader could remain dangerous for the Erdoğan government. By B. Weber.
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