ANKARA: At least 50,000 people joined a protest by Turkiye’s main opposition CHP in Ankara on Sunday ahead of a key court hearing that could oust the party’s leadership, the organisers and correspondents said.

The protesters packed into the Turkish capital’s vast Tandogan Square in a massive show of defiance on the eve of the hearing at an Ankara court, with CHP’s vice president Murat Bakan giving a figure of 50,000.

Correspondents at the scene said many tens of thousands were packed into the square, waving Turkish flags and wearing t-shirts of the Turkish republic’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

In a speech from the podium, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said the crowd had gathered to “stand against the (judicial) coup” being waged against the party, referring to Monday’s court hearing that could see him ousted as leader.

Today’s hearing seeks to overturn results of CHP’s Nov 2023 congress on grounds of vote-rigging

“This government does not want democracy. They know they cannot win the elections if there is democracy. They don’t want justice: they know if there’s justice they won’t be able to cover up their crimes,” he said.

Monday’s hearing seeks to overturn the results of the CHP’s November 2023 congress on grounds of vote-rigging. At the congress, voters elected Ozel as leader.

Turkiye’s oldest political party vs Erdogan

Critics say the case is a politically-motivated attempt to undermine Turkiye’s oldest political party, which won a huge victory over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP in the 2024 local elections and has been rising in the polls.

Addressing the Turkish leader, Ozel said: “Erdogan, did you ever see Tandogan Square like this?” as the protesters chanted: “Erdogan resign!”

Live footage showed crowds chanting for President Tayyip Erdogan’s resignation while waving Turkish flags and party banners.

The court decision whether to invalidate the 2023 congress of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) over alleged procedural irregularities could reshape the party, rattle financial markets and influence the timing of a general election set for 2028. The court could also delay the ruling.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said the government was trying to cling to power by undermining democratic norms and suppressing dissent following opposition victories in local elections over the past year. Ozel also called for a snap general election.

Opposition prepares for resistance

“This case is political. The accusations are slander. Our comrades are innocent. What’s being done is a coup a coup against the future president, against the future government. We will resist, we will resist, we will resist,” Ozel said in his address to the crowd. The government says the judiciary is independent and denies any political motives.

Turkiye has detained more than 500 people, including 17 mayors over the last year in Istanbul and other CHP-run municipalities around the country as part of corruption investigations, according to a review.

Hundreds of members of the CHP have been jailed pending trial in a sprawling probe into alleged corruption and terrorism links, among them President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival — Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

The arrest of Imamoglu in March sparked the country’s largest protests in a decade where hundreds of thousands took to the streets, prompting a brief but sharp selloff in the lira and other Turkish assets.

In a letter sent from prison and read aloud at the rally in Ankara, Imamoglu wrote that the government is attempting to pre-determine the outcome of the next election by sidelining legitimate rivals.

He also accused the government of undermining democracy through politically motivated judicial actions and other efforts to suppress dissent.

“The era of ‘I’ in this country will end, and the era of ‘we’ will begin. One person will lose, and everyone else will win,” Imamoglu wrote. The crowd applauded and chanted “Pre­sident Imamoglu” after the letter read aloud.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2025