Turkey’s main opposition party will hold rival Eid al-Adha greeting events in Ankara on Saturday, with its court-installed chairman gathering supporters at party headquarters, while its jailed presidential candidate called on people to join the ousted elected leader’s separate event.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the court-installed chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), will host supporters at party headquarters as jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the CHP’s presidential candidate and strongest rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, urged people to attend an event led by Özgür Özel near the party’s Ankara provincial office.
The parallel events follow a court decision removing Özel’s elected leadership and reinstating Kılıçdaroğlu, and are expected to reveal which side can mobilize more public support in the capital.
Kılıçdaroğlu will hold the Eid gathering at CHP headquarters in Ankara at 2 p.m. local time on Saturday.
Supporters from several provinces had shared social media calls offering free transportation to Ankara for the event.
Kılıçdaroğlu is expected to address attendees from the stairs of the party headquarters, where the CHP logo is displayed, without a separate stage.
Özel will hold his own Eid greeting at the same time in front of the CHP Ankara provincial headquarters near Güvenpark, a central square in the Turkish capital.
The CHP Ankara provincial branch called on supporters to attend, saying the event would mark the holiday’s spirit of solidarity and strengthen the party’s unity and struggle.
Özel is expected to address supporters from a bus.
İmamoğlu called on supporters to attend Özel’s event in a message posted through his “Presidential Candidate Office” social media account.
“We are celebrating Eid,” İmamoğlu said, adding that he would be with the crowd “not physically, but with all my spirit, faith and determination.”
“I am with you against the dirty alliance,” he said, implying that the reinstated chairman Kılıçdaroğlu has teamed up with Erdoğan’s government.
“To be there is to stand with our nation,” İmamoğlu said.
“Let us continue the struggle with high energy and determination for the republic, democracy and justice.”
Özel and his supporters are resisting a court-ordered leadership change that they say was a move by Erdoğan to suppress the opposition.
Özel became CHP chairman in November 2023 after defeating Kılıçdaroğlu, who had led the party since 2010 and lost the May 2023 presidential election to Erdoğan.
The CHP then moved on to win control of Turkey’s largest cities in the March 2024 local elections and finish ahead of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) nationwide.
An Ankara court last week annulled the party congress that brought Özel to power, citing “absolute nullity,” a legal term meaning the vote was treated as invalid from the start.
The ruling reinstated Kılıçdaroğlu and his former leadership team as an interim leadership, a move Özel and his supporters reject.
The dispute escalated Sunday when riot police entered CHP headquarters in Ankara and removed Özel supporters from the building, using tear gas and rubber bullets during the intervention.
The court decision and police intervention have drawn criticism from European politicians and Socialist International, a worldwide alliance of socialist, social democratic and labor parties.
Socialist International said Thursday it would continue to recognize Özel and the elected CHP leadership until the dispute is resolved in an acceptable and consensual way.
The group also urged Kılıçdaroğlu to call an immediate intraparty vote.