Turkish police detained 13 people under an investigation into a 2023 congress of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), state media said on Saturday, after a court ruling this week ousted the party’s leader Ozgur Ozel, inflaming a political crisis.
A Turkish appeals court on Thursday annulled the congress, at which Ozel was elected, citing unspecified irregularities. In his place, the court reinstated former CHP Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a divisive figure who lost to President Tayyip Erdogan in elections earlier that year.
The CHP condemned the ruling as a “judicial coup” and Ozel promised to fight it through legal appeals and to personally remain “day and night” in the CHP’s Ankara headquarters. The Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office said the suspects were detained across seven provinces over allegations of interference in delegates’ voting during the 2023 congress, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Saturday.