A Turkish court on Thursday removed the leaders of the country’s main opposition party, a surprise judgment likely to further weaken opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the country’s next presidential election.
The ruling ordered the opposition party, the Republican People’s Party, to restore a former chairman, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who has lost multiple elections during his career, including most recently to Mr. Erdogan in the 2023 presidential race.
The judgment is the latest in a series of legal moves that Mr. Erdogan’s critics say aim to eliminate political threats against him and sow chaos among those who seek to end his long tenure as Turkey’s top politician.
The opposition’s presidential candidate, the former Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, is in jail and on trial, accused of corruption, spying and other charges that his supporters consider politically motivated. Scores of other elected mayors and opposition officials have been jailed on similar charges.
Many legal experts say the government, which is run by Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, has tried to use its influence over the courts to reshape the political opposition.
“The ruling party is designing its opposition by using the judiciary, which is almost totally under its control,” said Hasan Sinar, a professor of criminal law at Altinbas University in Istanbul.
The government insists that the courts are free from political interference. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek told reporters on Thursday that the court had ruled “independently and objectively.”
The ruling voided the results of the 2023 internal election for the leadership of the Republican People’s Party, or C.H.P., based on alleged irregularities in how the vote was administered.
Opposition party leaders called on their members to protest the ruling, and many gathered late Thursday outside the C.H.P.’s headquarters in Ankara, the capital.
The ruling comes as Mr. Erdogan, 72 and in power as prime minister or president for 23 years, faces political headwinds at home.
Persistent year-on-year inflation, which has ranged between 30 and 80 percent for the last four years, has cratered the finances of many working- and middle-class Turks. Economic pain contributed to losses for Mr. Erdogan’s party in municipal elections across the country in 2024.
Presidential term limits would bar Mr. Erdogan from running again if he completes his current term in 2028. But he could legally seek another term if Parliament calls an early election, which is what most experts expect to happen.
While Mr. Erdogan’s early years in power saw dramatic development and economic growth, his critics accuse him of becoming increasingly authoritarian and wielding the power of the state against his foes.
Mr. Gurlek said Thursday’s ruling, by an appeals court in Ankara, found that some party delegates had been promised or received benefits to sway their votes in the 2023 internal election to choose Mr. Kilicdaroglu’s successor, undermining its integrity.
The court ruled that the party must restore its leadership from before that election, including returning Mr. Kilicdaroglu, the former party chairman, to the top post.
The decision swept away party leaders who have feistily attacked Mr. Erdogan over his handling of the economy and the arrests of opposition leaders. It also revived the political career of Mr. Kilicdaroglu, a former civil servant who led the party for 13 years that included a string of electoral defeats to Mr. Erdogan.
In a post on X, Mr. Kilicdaroglu said the ruling should unite, not divide the party.
“Let no one worry,” he said, adding that the party would “continue our march to power.”
Thursday’s ruling can be appealed, but Mr. Kilicdaroglu and the former party leadership will take over in the meantime. It is unclear whether Mr. Kilicdaroglu, as the party’s new leader, will appeal the verdict that put him in charge.
Mr. Sinar, the law professor, and Akin Atalay, a veteran lawyer who has defended other institutions against governmental interference, both called the ruling unprecedented and its legal basis faulty.
“The rules of the law cannot explain this ruling,” Mr. Atalay said, calling it a political move “announced by members of the judiciary who are close to the government.”
For the government to determine the leadership of a political party, rather than letting its own members choose, undermined Turkey’s democratic tradition, he said.
“This is a huge blow to democracy,” he said.
Speaking to reporters in Ankara after the ruling, the justice minister, Mr. Gurlek, described the court’s decision in precisely the opposite terms, saying, “This ruling reinforces our citizens’ trust in democracy.”
