ANKARA
\nTurkiye\u2019s main opposition party will hold an extraordinary congress on Sunday to re-elect its leader Ozgur Ozel, rallying support as the party weathers the government\u2019s crackdown on the country\u2019s largest protest movement in years.
\nTurkiye has clamped down on demonstrations triggered by last month\u2019s arrest of Istanbul\u2019s popular opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, also a member of Ozel\u2019s Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP).
\nNearly 2,000 people have been detained in the unrest following the detention of the man widely considered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s greatest political challenger, including several hundred students, journalists and young people.
\nOn Thursday authorities briefly detained 11 people, including a leading actor, with prosecutors accusing the suspects of \u201cincitement to hatred and enmity\u201d for relaying calls for a boycott.
\n\u201cI will talk to party members in the hall but outside, I will be meeting tens or hundreds of thousands\u201d of people, Ozel said, calling for \u201call citizens, whether they voted for CHP or not\u201d to gather outside the congress hall in Ankara on Sunday.
\n\u201cOur congress\u2019s main demand will be the release of our presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu,\u201d added the CHP leader, who has become the face of the protests since the Istanbul mayor\u2019s arrest.
\nThe party hopes Sunday\u2019s events will help counter further political and judicial pressure, following the dismissal and arrest of seven mayors from its ranks.
\nProtests to show force
\nEren Aksoyoglu, a political communications analyst, said the party will use Sunday\u2019s meeting as an opportunity for a \u201cshow of force\u201d in the face of the crackdown.
\nAccording to Turkish media reports, the authorities are seeking to remove the CHP party\u2019s leaders, a year after the opposition\u2019s sweeping victory in municipal elections.
\n\u201cWe decided to convene an extraordinary congress on April 6 to block attempts to appoint a trustee\u201d to head the party, Ozel said on March 21.
\nThe party came out on top in the March 2024 municipal elections with nearly 38 percent of the vote across the country.
\nIn addition to maintaining its lead in large cities such as Istanbul and Ankara, the CHP also made inroads into regions previously considered Erdogan strongholds.
\nIn the days following Imamoglu\u2019s arrest, the CHP drew tens of thousands of people into the streets of Istanbul and many other cities to denounce a \u201ccoup d\u2019etat.\u201d
\nBesides calling people to rally the CHP has managed to put pressure on the authorities by other means, such as the boycott of companies deemed close to the government.
\nThe opposition party called on Turkish people to hold a day-long boycott on purchases last Wednesday in support of the hundreds of students detained since the start of the protests.
\nThat day, many cafes, bars and restaurants in Istanbul and Ankara were deserted as people followed their calls, AFP journalists saw.
\n\u201cSince Imamoglu\u2019s arrest, Ozgur Ozel has given the CHP the image of a party that listens to the street and leads a tenacious opposition,\u201d said Aksoyoglu.
\n\u201cThis approach has been successful within the CHP and with voters,\u201d the political analyst added.
\nFor Berk Esen, a professor of political science at Istanbul\u2019s Sabanci University, Ozel \u201cmay not be a very charismatic speaker but he\u2019s articulate, precise and very critical of those in power.\u201d
\n\u201cOzel is at the head of the CHP but has not yet fully assumed the role of leader,\u201d he added. \u201cBy pursuing a tenacious opposition to Erdogan, he could strengthen his leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ANKARA Turkiye\u2019s main opposition party will hold an extraordinary congress on Sunday to re-elect its leader Ozgur Ozel, rallying support as the party weathers the government\u2019s crackdown on the country\u2019s largest protest movement in years. Turkiye has clamped down on demonstrations triggered by last month\u2019s arrest of Istanbul\u2019s popular opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, also a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-470948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n