A senior lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has warned that Gürsel Tekin, a longtime party figure who agreed to serve on a court-appointed caretaker board overseeing its İstanbul branch, would not be allowed into the party’s provincial headquarters.
Speaking on Halk TV on Thursday Ali Mahir Başarır, a group deputy chairman of the party, said Tekin had “shamelessly accepted” the caretaker role and claimed that he intended to enter the İstanbul office on Monday. “He should not even attempt it. The place he can go now is [Justice and Development Party] AKP headquarters, not the CHP building,” Başarır warned, accusing Tekin of siding with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling party.
Başarır further stated that any party member cooperating with what he described as a “political coup” would be expelled. “We are fighting for law and democracy on behalf of 86 million people. Anyone who agrees to become part of these caretaker decisions has no place in this party,” he added.
Başarır’s remarks come after the 45th Civil Court of First Instance earlier this week annulled the October 2023 provincial congress of the CHP, which included an intraparty vote to elect the provincial leaders. The court removed provincial chairman Özgür Çelik and his executive team, suspended nearly 200 local delegates and froze the party’s ongoing internal election process in Turkey’s largest city.
In their place the judges named a five-person caretaker group led by Tekin, a longtime party figure who once served as general secretary under former party chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Tekin said he was surprised by the appointment but pledged to “take the party to a congress in unity” and to “help free it from the halls of courthouses.”
In a related move the Ankara 42nd Civil Court of First Instance, which is hearing a separate case seeking to annul the CHP’s 2023 national congress — where current chairman Özgür Özel was elected and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s long tenure ended — as well as its 2025 extraordinary congress, requested case files from both the İstanbul 45th Civil Court of First Instance and the İstanbul 72nd Criminal Court of First Instance concerning the disputed provincial vote. The request was made ahead of a September 15 hearing in Ankara, signaling that the caretaker decision could play a role in the broader legal scrutiny of the party’s leadership contests.
The İstanbul 72nd Criminal Court recently accepted an indictment against 10 party officials — including Çelik and two İstanbul district mayors — seeking prison sentences of up to three years over alleged irregularities in the same 2023 provincial congress and scheduled the first hearing for January 2026.
The CHP, founded by the republic’s first leader, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, is Turkey’s oldest political party and the main rival of President Erdoğan’s ruling AKP. Its İstanbul branch is considered the most important provincial organization since the city of 16 million is not only the country’s economic engine but also a political stronghold for jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s strongest rival.
Analysts say the cases against the CHP carry major political stakes. İmamoğlu openly supported Özel in the leadership contest, and critics argue the legal challenges are part of a broader effort to weaken the faction aligned with him. Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost the leadership vote, has not ruled out returning if courts overturn the party congress. Pro-government media and Erdoğan himself have questioned the legitimacy of the opposition’s internal elections.