Description: Members of Turkey’s largest oppositional party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), clashed with riot police in front of the party’s Istanbul headquarters, after an Istanbul Court ruled to dismiss Ozgur Celik, the party’s latest leader. The Court additionally appointed Gursel Tekin as the party’s leader, a move which was criticized by the entire party which claimed Tekin to have been expelled from CHP. CHP party members barricaded the entrances of the headquarters in Istanbul before clashing with the riot police, which used pepper spray and riot shields to disperse the protesters while also barricading the party’s headquarters. The protests arrive after months of public discontent regarding the imprisonment of CHP’s former leader, Ekrem Imamoglu, who is facing corruption charges.
Impact: Turkey’s effectiveness on the international stage is consistently hampered by Erdogan’s authoritarian crackdown and political oppression of oppositional parties. The protests in Mar, organized after Imamoglu’s imprisonment, were one of the largest in the country’s history and marked levels of public discontent which have prompted Erdogan to forcibly pressure the CHP’s leadership into further submission. CHP party members have continuously opposed the government’s intrusion into the party’s internal political procedures, however, 16 of their members have been imprisoned, limiting the party’s public outreach and political capabilities. The medium – scale political instability in the country would continue to gradually persist and potentially escalate, with public unrest reminiscent of the protests in Mar threatening to cause a larger level of instability within the country.