With the campaign against CHP, Turkey moves toward ‘straight-out authoritarian state’

Over recent months, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped up his offensive against the Republican People’s Party (CHP), with a wave of arrests and legal proceedings. In 2024, and for the first time since 1977, the party managed to win the most votes in local elections, overtaking the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Since then, the crackdown has only intensified. In early September, an Istanbul court dismissed CHP’s provincial leadership, citing irregularities at its 2023 congress, and appointed state-selected administrators in their place. In response, the party called for an extraordinary congress to be held on Sept. 21. L’Orient-Le Jour takes stock with Henri Barkey, professor of international relations at Lehigh University and researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations. How we got here The endless showdown...