By Umit Bektas and Mehmet Emin Caliskan ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish opposition lawmakers piled tables and chairs at the entrance of an office at their party’s Istanbul headquarters on Monday to block police and prevent the replacement of a senior official whom a court ordered out last week. The dramatic footage of the barricade standoff […]
World
Turkey opposition uses tables, chairs to block police besieging headquarters
Audio By Carbonatix
By Umit Bektas and Mehmet Emin Caliskan
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish opposition lawmakers piled tables and chairs at the entrance of an office at their party’s Istanbul headquarters on Monday to block police and prevent the replacement of a senior official whom a court ordered out last week.
The dramatic footage of the barricade standoff marked the latest chapter in a nearly year-long crackdown on the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), during which hundreds of party members have been arrested and jailed.
Outside the building, hundreds of riot police detained protesters, used pepper spray and scuffled with leaders of the CHP, which is the main rival of President Tayyip Erdogan.
Last week, an Istanbul court ruled to oust the CHP’s Istanbul provincial head, Ozgur Celik, over alleged irregularities. It ordered that Gursel Tekin, a former CHP deputy chair, should replace Celik on an interim basis.
The CHP rejected the ruling as “null and void”, said Tekin had been expelled from the party and vowed not to relinquish Celik’s post to anyone.
Nonetheless, Tekin arrived at the CHP headquarters amid the protests on Monday to take up the post. He entered the building with police support after a standoff with party members inside, and told reporters he was not working for the state and pledged to help solve the CHP’s problems.
A few floors above, CHP lawmakers piled the furniture nearly to the top of the door to prevent the entry of the police and Tekin. In a stairwell outside the office, police officers evacuated CHP supporters, after having used some pepper spray to force them out, witnesses said.
“Today, they are not only trying to evacuate the building from CHP (supporters) here, but they are actually attempting to dismantle democracy,” Gokhan Gunaydin, a CHP MP standing behind the barricade, said on a live X broadcast from inside the room.
More than 50 CHP MPs were in the CHP headquarters to dissuade police. Istanbul’s main stock index fell 3% on Monday, partly over rising political risk, analysts said.
CRACKDOWN
The crackdown on the CHP is centred mainly on corruption allegations the party denies. It says the legal steps aim to eliminate electoral threats to Erdogan and weaken the opposition – charges the government denies, saying courts are independent.
Istanbul’s CHP Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested in March as part of the sprawling investigation, setting off Turkey’s largest street protests in a decade and hitting Turkish assets.
Share and bond markets fell again last week after the latest court ruling in Istanbul, which could have implications for a separate ruling expected next week on whether CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel will be stripped of his title.
On Sunday, police barricaded the CHP offices, prompting the party to call on supporters to gather there to oppose the “siege”, after which authorities announced a ban on protests.
Access to major social media websites was restricted in Turkey on Monday, a step taken in the past by the authorities at times of political volatility. Netblocks, a global internet monitor, said access to platforms including X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp had been curbed.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said disregarding the court ruling amounted to obstruction of justice and that “the state will do what is necessary against any illegal initiative”.
(Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Peter Graff)