(Istanbul) – A  court decision ordering the removal of the party chair and leadership of Türkiye’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is the latest deeply damaging blow to the rule of law, democracy and human rights in  Türkiye , Human Rights Watch said today. On May 21, 2026, the 36th Ankara regional court of appeal issued an interim measure to remove the CHP chair, Özgür Özel, and the entire party leadership and annul the November 4-5, 2023, party congress at which party delegates elected them. The court restored the previous party leadership of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost the May 2023 presidential election to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and had been replaced by Özel at the party congress.  “The court’s decision to remove Özgür Özel and the entire CHP leadership is part of the Erdoğan government’s broader political efforts to sideline the main political opposition in ways that profoundly undermine civil and political rights and Türkiye’s democratic process,”…