Folks take cowl as Turkish riot police use water cannon to disperse protesters throughout a rally referred to as by ousted opposition chief Ozgur Ozel, days after a court docket dismissed him from workplace, in Izmir on Could 26, 2026.
| Photograph Credit score: AFP
Riot police in Turkiye used water cannons on Tuesday (Could 26, 2026) to stop individuals from gathering to listen to a speech by the deposed chief of the nation’s major Opposition occasion.
Ozgur Ozel and the core management of the Republican Folks’s Celebration, or CHP, had been faraway from their posts on Thursday (Could 26, 2026) by a court docket order that many individuals contemplate to be politically motivated.m
Mr. Ozel had supposed to deal with supporters on Tuesday (Could 26, 2026) within the western Turkish metropolis of Izmir, however these heading to the town’s Cumhuriyet Sq. discovered their approach blocked by metal boundaries and riot police.
Professional-Opposition broadcaster Halk TV confirmed most of the largely middle-aged crowd being soaked by water cannon as they tried to succeed in the sq.. Native media additionally reported that police deployed pepper spray.
The political disaster was sparked final week when an appeals court docket in Ankara overturned a 2023 occasion congress vote that appointed Mr. Ozel as CHP chief. The court docket choice changed him along with his predecessor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, sparking outrage amongst occasion supporters.
Mr. Ozel, 51, succeeded the 77-year-old Kilicdaroglu after 13 years of largely ineffective opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The court docket case, which centred on irregularities within the congress vote, is seen by the president’s critics as the newest authorized assault on the CHP, throughout which waves of elected officers and occasion members have been imprisoned.
Following the court docket ruling, Mr. Ozel and his supporters barricaded themselves contained in the CHP headquarters in Ankara. Police stormed the constructing on Sunday (Could )24, firing plastic pellets and pepper spray in a violent finish to the standoff.
Mr. Ozel, who has vowed to take the wrestle to the streets, mentioned on arriving in Izmir that he would “go wherever the persons are ready.” He later arrived at Cumhuriyet Sq. earlier than strolling to a different close by sq. the place he delivered a speech to 1000’s of cheering supporters.
The confrontation in Izmir — Turkiye’s third-largest metropolis and historically a CHP stronghold — got here a day forward of the official Eid al-Adha vacation, though many individuals had additionally taken Monday (Could 25) and Tuesday (Could 26) off work.
In a televised Eid message, Erdogan mentioned he hoped the holiday could be “an event for hearts to melt, for many who are estranged to reconcile, for grievances to be resolved.” The CHP is degree with the ruling Justice and Growth Celebration, or AKP, in most up-to-date opinion polls and though the following election will not be due till 2028, many anticipate Erdogan to push for early elections.
Mr. Ozel delivered a critical blow to the AKP within the 2024 municipal elections, strengthening the opposition’s grip on key cities it had gained 5 years earlier, together with Istanbul and Ankara.
The CHP mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, emerged because the likeliest challenger to Erdogan, who has dominated Turkiye since 2003, within the subsequent presidential ballot. However he has been imprisoned since March final 12 months as he faces a number of felony circumstances that might see him sentenced to many years behind bars.
Many observers have mentioned the authorized circumstances towards the CHP — largely centred on corruption allegations — are geared toward neutralising the occasion. The federal government insists that Turkiye’s courts are neutral and act independently of political stress.
Revealed – Could 26, 2026 11:19 pm IST