The dispute surrounding the congresses of Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party has ended.
According to Medianews.az, on October 24, the Ankara Civil Court rejected claims to annul the results of the congresses.
At the November 4-5, 2023 congress, the party's leader changed; Özgür Özel replaced Kamal Kılıçdaroğlu, who had been chairman since 2010. In 2025, a group of party members filed a lawsuit claiming that the chairman election was illegitimate and demanded that the congress results be declared invalid.
As soon as the claim emerged, the party held an extraordinary congress, and on April 6, Özgür Özel was re-elected chairman, but the court case was not withdrawn; rather, the annulment of the April 6, 2025 congress results also came under discussion.
At another extraordinary congress held on September 21, Özgür Özel received the chairmanship mandate for the third time. The demand to annul the results of this congress was also put forward.
The next congress is scheduled for November 28-30.
The Republican People's Party was in sole power in 1923-1950, 1963-1965, 1977, 1978-1979, acted as coalition partner in government in 1961-1962, 1962-1963, 1974, and since 2002 has placed second in all parliamentary elections.
In the 600-seat parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the party holds 138 seats. The party, winner of the 2024 local elections, has representatives serving as mayors in 13 metropolitan cities, 21 cities, 301 districts, and 63 towns.
Since spring 2025, the organization has been under pressure following the initiative to nominate party member Ekrem İmamoğlu as a presidential candidate. Ekrem İmamoğlu graduated from Istanbul University with degrees in Business Administration (bachelor's) and Human Resources Management (master's). He was elected mayor of Istanbul in 2019 and 2024. In 2025, the party decided to declare him its presidential candidate, with a party-wide vote scheduled for March 23.
On March 18, Istanbul University decided to revoke Ekrem İmamoğlu's bachelor's diploma; on March 19, İmamoğlu was detained in a wave of arrests on various serious criminal charges; on March 23, he was removed from the mayor's office. This led to sharp protests and mass actions. On March 23, the nationwide party vote, attended also by other political forces and public representatives, gave Ekrem İmamoğlu a total of 15.5 million votes. On March 27, the party officially announced him as its presidential candidate and demanded early elections. In the wave of confrontations, other party representatives, including several mayors, were detained. On July 28, Istanbul University also canceled Ekrem İmamoğlu's master's diploma.
According to the constitution, only a person with higher education can be a candidate for the presidency of Turkey.
In Turkey, presidential and parliamentary elections are held on the same day every five years. The last joint election was on May 14, 2023; the parliament was formed, and the presidential election ended in a second round on May 28.
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey has the right to call early elections with 360 votes. In that case, the dual election procedure will be applied, and the current head of state, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will be able to run for president again.
Since 2018, the president is also the head of government. No one can be elected president more than twice.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, chairman of the Justice and Development Party, served as prime minister from 2003, and was elected president in 2014 and 2018. Because the limit on being elected more than twice has been counted since 2018, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also received a presidential mandate in 2023.
Toğrul Ali,
Medianews.az
