Judicial Pressure and Political Resilience: An Analysis of the Legal Problems Facing Turkey's CHP

A Legal Fight for Turkey's Opposition

The main opposition party in Turkey, the Republican People's Party (CHP), is dealing with a campaign of judicial pressure meant to weaken its ability to operate and win elections. This campaign is like a strategic attack from two sides, targeting both the party leadership's legitimacy and the political future of its most important public figure. This writing will look at this two-part attack, how the party is defending itself, and what it means for Turkey's political stability before the 2028 elections.

At the center of this situation are CHP leader Ozgur Ozel, whose position as chairman has been legally challenged, and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s biggest rival, who is facing serious criminal accusations. These legal fights happening at the same time are not separate incidents but parts of a plan to weaken the opposition. We will start by looking at the effort to remove the party's leadership.

The Challenge to the CHP's Leadership

A political party's leadership is key to how it is organized. The first part of the legal plan was a direct threat to this: a court case trying to cancel the results of the CHP's 2023 congress, which would have removed party leader Ozgur Ozel and caused confusion in the opposition.

If the court had ruled against the CHP, the party would have faced serious problems that would have weakened the opposition. Some of these problems included:

• The removal of party chairman Ozgur Ozel.

• The possible appointment of a government official to run the party, putting it under government control.

• Another possibility was bringing back former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost the 2023 presidential election to Erdoğan.

To prevent this threat, the CHP took quick legal action, holding a special congress in September 2025 to re-elect Ozgur Ozel as chairman. This was done to make the court case pointless, and it worked. On October 24, 2025, the court threw out the case, saying that Ozel's re-election made the legal challenge not relevant.

People saw the ruling as a win for the CHP and as a sign that the political situation was not as risky and that important opposition groups could withstand judicial pressure. This idea that political stability was still there caused Turkish assets to increase in value, with the Borsa İstanbul index rising over 4% and the lira becoming stronger compared to the dollar. With the direct threat to its leadership gone, the legal system then focused on the second part: the campaign against the party's presidential candidate.

The Legal Pursuit of Ekrem İmamoğlu

With the challenge to the CHP's leadership gone, the legal system has put all its attention on Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is seen as someone who could challenge Erdoğan for the presidency. The legal attack on İmamoğlu is the biggest risk to the unity of Turkey's opposition before the 2028 elections, with a series of increasing accusations meant to create problems for his candidacy.

Initial Arrest on Financial and Corruption Charges

The legal campaign against İmamoğlu got stronger in the spring of 2025. He was detained on March 19, 2025, and formally arrested on March 23, 2025. The first charges were based on financial and security-related accusations, including:

• Creating and managing a criminal group

• Taking bribes

• Tender fraud

• Illegally recording personal information

• Helping an armed terrorist group

These charges, which the CHP says are not true, were used to remove İmamoğlu from his job as mayor and put him in jail before the trial, setting the stage for a bigger problem.

The Move to Espionage Allegations

While İmamoğlu was in jail, prosecutors started a new investigation against him, his campaign manager Necati Ozkan, and journalist Merdan Yanardağ. The choice of espionage is important; it is an accusation that makes political opposition seem like treason, cuts off a political figure from international allies, and is hard to disprove in a political court. The case is based on digital information from Huseyin Gun, who was arrested on July 4 on espionage charges and is said to have had with many foreign intelligence officials.

The specific accusations are meant to create a story of foreign conspiracy:

*   Huseyin Gun: Accused of giving instructional advice to Necati Ozkan.

*   Necati Ozkan: Involved because of his with Gun.

*   Merdan Yanardağ: Accused of having many with Gun related to espionage, organizing media for the 2019 election campaign, getting money from Gun, and working with foreign intelligence to change the 2019 local elections.

To make this crime possible, a separate investigation was started into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB). Prosecutors say that personal information from 4.7 million users of the İstanbul Senin app and voter information of 11 million people from the İBB HANEM program were sent to foreign countries. The of these accusations has caused a strong and united response from the opposition.

The CHP's Response: Claims of a Politically Motivated Attack on Democracy

Faced with this legal attack, the CHP has said that these actions are not legitimate legal processes but a political campaign by the government to get rid of its main rival. The party has said the events are political and anti-democratic persecution meant to go against the voters' wishes.

The CHP leadership has said the investigation is a direct attack on democracy. Murat Emir, Deputy Chairman of the CHP Parliamentary Faction, said it was an operation to eliminate democracy from the system, which makes the election a threat, the election a coup, and the will of the people a 'takeover plan'. Deputy Chairman Burhanettin Bulut said the situation was that Winning an election is a 'sin', writing news is 'treason', and thinking is 'espionage'. The party's Deputy Chairman for Legal Affairs, Gul Çiftçi, said the new charges were a tactic, saying, Those who cannot prepare charges against İmamoğlu are trying to make the process longer by creating new false crimes. Defending the journalist, CHP Istanbul MP Mahmut Tanal said, Journalism is not a crime. You cannot make a spy out of Yanardağ. This is a made-up accusation. The government has denied these claims, saying that the courts are independent.

Conclusion: The Relationship Between Law and Politics Before 2028

The CHP is dealing with a difficult political situation where legal methods are being used to put pressure on it. The party has been tough in defending its stability, but it is still at risk from the legal attack on its most important election figure.

The successful defense of Ozgur Ozel's leadership showed the CHP's ability to fight threats. But this success is different from the serious legal fight facing Ekrem İmamoğlu. The move of charges from corruption to espionage shows a plan to disqualify Erdoğan's biggest rival from the political area long before the 2028 presidential elections. The high possibility of İmamoğlu being legally banned from the race is a big risk, possibly forcing the opposition to find a new leader under government pressure. These events show the main issue in Turkey's political world: an opposition struggling to compete in a system where the lines between law and politics are not very clear.