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Turkey’s main opposition calls for elections by November amid unrest

The head of Turkey’s main opposition party has demanded that elections be held “at the latest in November” following the country’s most widespread unrest in a decade. The protests came on the heels of last month’s arrest of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival for the presidential post.

Ozgur Ozel, leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), gives a speech during an extraordinary congress of the party in Ankara on April 6, 2025.
Ozgur Ozel, leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), gives a speech during an extraordinary congress of the party in Ankara on April 6, 2025. © Adem Altan, AFP

The leader of Turkey‘s main opposition party on Sunday called for expected elections to be held “at the latest in November” following the country’s most widespread unrest in a decade.

Addressing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, CHP party leader Ozgur Ozel said: “In November at the latest, you will come to confront our candidate,” referring to the CHP’s presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu whose detention sparked the protests.

“We will defy you, we want our candidate at our sides,” Ozel added. “We invite you to once again appeal to the will of the people.”

Call for weekly protests around country, instead of nightly in capital

Ozel hailed the demonstrations triggered by last month’s arrest of Imamoglu, Istanbul‘s popular opposition mayor who is widely considered Erdogan’s greatest political threat, as “the greatest motion of censure in history”.

In the days following Imamoglu’s arrest, the CHP drew tens of thousands of people into the streets of Istanbul and many other cities to denounce a “coup d’etat”.

In response Turkey has clamped down on the protests, with authorities detaining nearly 2,000 people including several hundred students, journalists and young people.

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