News Screen – The internal crisis hitting the Republican People’s Party (CHP) as the main opposition in Türkiye is considered to have the potential to speed up the implementation of elections and benefit President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the next national political contestation.
The situation escalated after a Turkish court decided to remove CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel and return party leadership to Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The decision sparked unrest at CHP headquarters in Ankara, including clashes with riot police officers.
A number of political analysts believe that this development could weaken the solidity of the opposition and open up opportunities for Erdogan to push for elections earlier than the original schedule of 2028.
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Political researcher from the Istanbul Political Research Institute, Seren Selvin Korkmaz, said the legal action against the CHP shows that the party is still considered a serious threat to Erdogan’s government.
“The aim is not only to divide the opposition, but also to paralyze political forces that still have an electoral base and legitimacy as an alternative to the government,” he said.
According to Korkmaz, the CHP’s divided internal condition could be exploited by the government if the elections were held early. He said the opposition would likely face the political process in a weak state, legally hampered and experiencing prolonged internal conflict.
A similar opinion was expressed by Global Risk Insight analyst, Hamish Kinnear, who assessed that the chaos within the CHP could last a long time and affect Türkiye’s national political map.
“There is a possibility that the government is considering early elections because the main opposition is experiencing serious divisions,” he said.
The CHP crisis began with a court decision that annulled the results of the party’s 2023 internal elections. This decision restored Kemal Kilicdaroglu as party leader after previously being defeated by Ozgur Ozel.
This step has drawn criticism from various parties who believe that legal intervention against the opposition is increasingly narrowing the democratic space in Türkiye.
Ozgur Ozel even called the government’s actions a “massacre of democracy” and accused President Erdogan of trying to determine his own political opponents ahead of the upcoming elections.
Pressure on the CHP has increased after the party achieved a landslide victory in the 2024 local elections. Since then, a number of regional heads from the CHP have reportedly faced legal proceedings on various charges, ranging from corruption to alleged links to terrorist groups.
Türkiye’s political situation also heated up after the opposition presidential candidate and mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, was detained since March 2025. Imamoglu has long been considered one of Erdogan’s strongest political rivals.
However, a number of observers believe that the steps taken against the opposition have the potential to trigger a negative public reaction, especially amidst the economic pressures that Turkish society is still facing.
Meanwhile, the CHP is trying to maintain its political influence by pushing for an extraordinary congress to determine the direction of the party’s future leadership.***
