{"id":601,"date":"2026-06-01T10:44:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/turkish-democracy-on-trial-how-erdogans-rule-has-undermined-justice-and-weakened-his-rivals\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T10:44:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:44:56","slug":"turkish-democracy-on-trial-how-erdogans-rule-has-undermined-justice-and-weakened-his-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/turkish-democracy-on-trial-how-erdogans-rule-has-undermined-justice-and-weakened-his-rivals\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish democracy on trial: how Erdo\u011fan\u2019s rule has undermined justice and weakened his rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

There has been unrest across Turkey<\/a> after an appeals court annulled the results of the Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) 2023 leadership election, deposing the popular winner \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel.<\/p>\n

\u00d6zel\u2019s removal, based on the the court\u2019s decision that the CHP\u2019s 38th congress was void from the beginning<\/a>, overturning an earlier court finding rejecting allegations of electoral irregularities, has left the CHP with a 77-year-old party veteran, Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu, as interim leader.<\/p>\n

K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu has previously led the party to five election losses \u2013 including the 2023 presidential election in which he was defeated by Turkey\u2019s president, Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan<\/a>, by about five percentage points. <\/p>\n

This latest political crisis to rock Turkey fits into a broader pattern of democratic backsliding<\/a> and the systemic weakening of the opposition under the rule of Erdo\u011fan\u2019s Justice and Development Party (AKP). Over the years, AKP governments have undermined the justice system<\/a>, stifled press freedom<\/a> and curtailed human rights<\/a> in Turkey.<\/p>\n

The next presidential and parliamentary elections are not scheduled until 2028, and Erdo\u011fan \u2013 who will be 74 \u2013 would be ineligible to run at that stage under constitutional term limits. After completing three terms as Turkey\u2019s prime minister between 2003 and 2014, he became the country\u2019s first popularly elected president in 2014. He was then re-elected in both 2018 and 2023 \u2013 the maximum number of terms allowed under Turkey\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n

While in office, Erdo\u011fan has significantly strengthened the power of the presidency. Following a constitutional referendum in 2017<\/a>, the Turkish political system changed from a parliamentary democracy to an executive presidency. This gave the president executive powers<\/a>, including the power to initiate or amend laws, to ratify treaties, to appoint and dismiss vice-presidents, ministers and high-ranking public executives, and to decide on the use of Turkish Armed Forces.<\/p>\n

US-based pro-democracy group Freedom House criticised the move, saying that Erdo\u011fan and his AK Party were now able to \u201cassert partisan control<\/a> over the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK), the judiciary, national policy and the media\u201d.<\/p>\n

After two decades of dominating Turkish politics, Erdo\u011fan\u2019s position was challenged during the 2023 presidential election<\/a>. Despite widespread expectation that K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu would win, the first round was so close that the election went to a run-off vote, which Erdogan won with 52.2%.<\/p>\n

The following year, the CHP won a landslide victory in Turkey\u2019s local elections, controlling the major cities (Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, and Bursa). While Erdo\u011fan has sweeping powers at the national level, directly elected mayors still have considerable influence at the local level.<\/p>\n

Despite Erdo\u011fan\u2019s energetic campaigning in Istanbul\u2019s mayoral race on behalf of the AKP candidate (a city in which he himself was mayor from 1994 to \u201898<\/a> \u2013 the CHP\u2019s Ekrem Imamo\u011flu defeated the AKP challenger. The 2024 local elections marked the CHP\u2019s greatest success in 21 years. The opposition appeared united, energised and electable. <\/p>\n

In the aftermath, party leader \u00d6zel praised the voters\u2019 decision to change Turkish politics<\/a>, commenting that: \u201cThey [voters] want to open the door to a new political climate in our country.\u201d But his initial optimism was soon tested by events.<\/p>\n

Crackdown on opposition<\/h2>\n

In the wake of those elections, Erdo\u011fan launched a crackdown against his opponents \u2013 down to the level of provincial mayors and local officials \u2013 by prosecution and prison sentences<\/a>. The aim appears to have been to pre-emptively neutralise emerging challengers who show signs of building a popular following, before they translate opposition into a threat to the president. <\/p>\n

Imamo\u011flu, a popular mayor of Istanbul, was arrested in March 2025 \u2013 on the same day he was nominated as the CHP\u2019s presidential candidate for 2028. He is now in custody facing corruption charges, with prosecutors seeking a prison sentence of up to 2,352 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The charges against Imamo\u011flu brought thousands of protesters on to the streets and university campuses in Istanbul. There was also significant international concern. Human Rights Watch\u2019s deputy Europe and Central Asia director, Benjamin Ward<\/a>, said: \u201cLooking at these cases as a whole, it\u2019s hard to avoid the conclusion that prosecutors are trying to remove Imamo\u011flu from politics and discredit his party in ways that undermine democracy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch called Imamo\u011flu\u2019s trial part of a broad strategy to \u201cweaponise the criminal justice system\u201d<\/a> against the CHP. A further 20 CHP mayors have been detained on charges relating to alleged corruption, bribery and terrorism-related offences.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the crackdown, Freedom House said Erdo\u011fan\u2019s government had systematically used institutional tools to weaken or co-opt political rivals. This is \u201climiting the opposition\u2019s ability to build voter support and gain power through elections<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Targeting popular opponents<\/h2>\n

Since being elected party leader in November 2023 after K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu\u2019s defeat in that year\u2019s presidential election, \u00d6zel has been leading the CHP\u2019s regeneration. But after Imamo\u011flu\u2019s arrest, the opposition faced increased institutional obstacles.<\/p>\n

\u00d6zel told The Guardian newspaper<\/a> in April 2025 that Imamo\u011flu\u2019s arrest was \u201ca political trial\u201d \u2013 denying the government\u2019s claim that the charges against the Istanbul mayor weren\u2019t politically motivated.<\/p>\n

As the rising star of Turkey\u2019s opposition, \u00d6zel has accused Erdo\u011fan\u2019s AKP of pursuing an agenda to \u201celiminate its rivals\u201d<\/a>. And the more he directly challenged Erdo\u011fan and gained popularity, the more \u00d6zel became a target.<\/p>\n

This episode has followed a familiar pattern: a rising figure is identified, a legal case \u2013 alleging corruption, terrorism or procedural irregularity \u2013 is brought against them, and they are effectively removed from the political landscape.<\/p>\n

In a similar vein, the reinstatement of K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu appears to be a tactic of sabotage. Compared with Imamo\u011flu\u2019s established following and \u00d6zel\u2019s rising popularity, K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu is seen by many people in Turkey as yesteryear\u2019s man, having led the party to several electoral defeats between 2010 and 2023.<\/p>\n

However, from Erdo\u011fan\u2019s perspective, K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu\u2019s leadership is more manageable<\/a> \u2013 and an internally divided CHP will weaken the opposition.<\/p>\n

Erdo\u011fan can only run for president again if he calls early elections<\/a> before 2028 (this is allowed under Turkey\u2019s constitution) \u2013 or changes the constitution to remove the term limits. But his ruling coalition currently lacks the votes for either.<\/p>\n

Like many other countries at present, Turkey has travelled a certain distance down the road to autocracy<\/a> \u2013 but it\u2019s not fully there yet. The gap is closing, though \u2013 and the removal of \u00d6zel is a desperate gambit by a leader running out of constitutional options.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Ayla G\u00f6l received funding from British Academy\/Leverhulme Small Research Grant 2023\/24 scheme.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has been unrest across Turkey after an appeals court annulled the results of the Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) 2023 leadership election, deposing the popular winner \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel. \u00d6zel\u2019s removal, based on the the court\u2019s decision that the CHP\u2019s 38th congress was void from the beginning, overturning an earlier court finding rejecting allegations of electoral […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}