Jun 9, 2026 · 35 min · 11 segments
A Turkish court has taken a dramatic step that could reshape the country's political landscape. It annulled the results of the CHP's 2023 party congress, effectively overturning the election of Özgür…
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İlhan UzgelGuest
Gönül TolHost
Erdoğan has been chipping away at Turkish democracy and consolidating power for years, but he has generally done so gradually, one step at a time, and this latest move feels different.
Even by Erdoğan's standards, it's remarkably bold, and many people see this as a turning point, uh, one that could fundamentally change the nature of the political system in Turkey.
Uh, so my question is, do you agree? Uh, is this just the latest chapter in a long process, or does this mark something qualitatively different?
Uh, that, that's a great opportunity for us, for, for CHP, uh, for elected CHP, what we call, uh, to, to express our views to a broader audience.
Uh, we are going through a very hard times and very tough times, that we haven't seen anything like this in entire Turkish, uh, political history, that a main opposition party is, is, uh, stormed by, by riot po- police.
Uh, last time our party has been closed down was during the military takeover in 1980.
Uh, after that, the party has been reestablished and reformed and, and then, you know, we, we had not a perfect democratic system in Turkey.
Well, uh, your question is that... is if that moment represents a turning point or is- it's, it marks as something qualitatively different then.
Um, on May 24th, the riot police, as I told you, stormed the main opposition party's headquarters, using tear gas to disperse the party members.
We were expecting something, I was inside the building, but not to that extent, that that was a political party, that was a main opposition party.
And we have never thought that our previous leader, Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu, would demand the evacuation of the, uh, party headquarters through po- police force.
That was shocking for those who watched it live on, uh, on, on, on the TV screens and who experienced it inside the political party, and that was a very dramatic moment.
Uh, well, I mean, this was also a later step in a very long process in the crackdown on, on the opposition.
In other words, it's, it's, it's a pa- it's part of a accelerating pattern, uh, I should tell you.
That shows that it was a calculated move, a politically driven ruling of the court.
The idea was that the, the calculation was that, that people would move for, for holiday.
The colleges are closed down in the, during the holiday time, that there would be no big protests.
That was the, that was the, the, the plan, uh, or plan of the, of the government, which shows that it, it was a, a very calculated attack on the, on the main opposition party.
It started with our party's election victory in March 2024, and it, the, the, Mr. Erdoğan and his party, the, the AK Party, faced a first electoral defeat in 20 years.
That was a serious blow to his popularity, to his charisma, that Erdoğan was like an election machine, that he won all the elections he entered, uh, for the last 20 years.
Erdoğan has been chipping away at Turkish democracy and consolidating power for years, but he has generally done so gradually, one step at a time, and this latest move feels different.
Even by Erdoğan's standards, it's remarkably bold, and many people see this as a turning point, uh, one that could fundamentally change the nature of the political system in Turkey.
Uh, so my question is, do you agree? Uh, is this just the latest chapter in a long process, or does this mark something qualitatively different?
Uh, that, that's a great opportunity for us, for, for CHP, uh, for elected CHP, what we call, uh, to, to express our views to a broader audience.
Uh, we are going through a very hard times and very tough times, that we haven't seen anything like this in entire Turkish, uh, political history, that a main opposition party is, is, uh, stormed by, by riot po- police.
Uh, last time our party has been closed down was during the military takeover in 1980.
Uh, after that, the party has been reestablished and reformed and, and then, you know, we, we had not a perfect democratic system in Turkey.
Well, uh, your question is that... is if that moment represents a turning point or is- it's, it marks as something qualitatively different then.
Um, on May 24th, the riot police, as I told you, stormed the main opposition party's headquarters, using tear gas to disperse the party members.
We were expecting something, I was inside the building, but not to that extent, that that was a political party, that was a main opposition party.
And we have never thought that our previous leader, Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu, would demand the evacuation of the, uh, party headquarters through po- police force.
That was shocking for those who watched it live on, uh, on, on, on the TV screens and who experienced it inside the political party, and that was a very dramatic moment.
Uh, well, I mean, this was also a later step in a very long process in the crackdown on, on the opposition.
In other words, it's, it's, it's a pa- it's part of a accelerating pattern, uh, I should tell you.
That shows that it was a calculated move, a politically driven ruling of the court.
The idea was that the, the calculation was that, that people would move for, for holiday.
The colleges are closed down in the, during the holiday time, that there would be no big protests.
That was the, that was the, the, the plan, uh, or plan of the, of the government, which shows that it, it was a, a very calculated attack on the, on the main opposition party.
It started with our party's election victory in March 2024, and it, the, the, Mr. Erdoğan and his party, the, the AK Party, faced a first electoral defeat in 20 years.
That was a serious blow to his popularity, to his charisma, that Erdoğan was like an election machine, that he won all the elections he entered, uh, for the last 20 years.
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