Ankara appeals court voids CHP's 2023 congress, removes Özgür Özel and reinstates Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu
The 36th Civil Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice ruled unanimously on Thursday that the Republican People's Party's (CHP) 38th Ordinary Elective Congress of 4-5 November 2023 was "absolutely null and void," temporarily removing current chair Özgür Özel and his entire central party leadership and reinstating former chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and the pre-congress organs until the decision becomes final. The chamber overturned a 24 October 2025 lower-court ruling that had declared the case moot, and also annulled the CHP's 8 October 2023 Istanbul Provincial Congress along with every subsequent ordinary and extraordinary congress held by Turkey's oldest party. The party has two weeks to appeal to the Court of Cassation.
The 36th Civil Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice ruled unanimously on Thursday that the Republican People's Party's (CHP) 38th Ordinary Elective Congress, held in Ankara on 4-5 November 2023, was "legally invalid" on grounds of "absolute nullity," and annulled the congress retroactively from the date it took place. The ruling overturns a 24 October 2025 lower-court decision by Ankara's 42nd Civil Court of First Instance that had declared the lawsuits moot, and orders a return to the party structure that existed before the 38th congress until the ruling becomes final. The CHP — Turkey's oldest party, founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk — has two weeks to appeal to the Court of Cassation.
The interim injunction temporarily removes current chair Özgür Özel, the entire Central Executive Board (MYK) elected at the 2023 congress, the Party Assembly and the High Disciplinary Board members who took office after it. The chamber reinstates former chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who led the party from 2010 to 2023, together with the Party Assembly and Disciplinary Board members who served before the congress. The court also annulled the 8 October 2023 CHP Istanbul Provincial Congress and every subsequent ordinary and extraordinary congress and decision of the party. The interim decision has been sent to the Supreme Election Council, the Ankara Provincial Election Board, the Çankaya 4th District Election Board and the Ankara Governor's Office for implementation.
The CHP's response was immediate. Deputy chair Gokan Zeybek told Medyascope that "all decisions taken by courts acting on instructions [from the government] are null and void as far as we are concerned" and announced an emergency meeting of the Central Executive Board called by Özel. Kılıçdaroğlu, by contrast, signalled openness to resuming the role: "May this decision be beneficial to Turkey and CHP," he told TGRT news. Kılıçdaroğlu was credited for widening the party's appeal during his tenure but lost the 2023 presidential election to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and was pushed out by younger cadres at the very congress now annulled.
The legal action against the CHP arrives against the backdrop of the party's record performance in the 2024 local elections against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the campaign of arrests that has followed. Ekrem İmamoğlu, the CHP's presidential candidate selected at a party primary in March 2025 and the imprisoned former mayor of Istanbul, has been polled as capable of defeating Erdoğan; he is being held on charges including corruption, extortion, bribery, money laundering, espionage and supporting terrorism, which he denies. Whether Thursday's ruling reaches back to invalidate the primary that nominated him is unclear. Scores of local CHP officials and party workers have been detained over the past year in what the party describes as systematic political repression.