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Türkiye's main opposition party CHP resolved to defy a court ruling that stripped its leader of office, following an approximately five-hour emergency session of the Central Executive Board chaired by Ozgur Ozel at party headquarters in Ankara on Thursday.
Speaking to the press for the first time since the ruling, Ozel confirmed a snap-election challenge, acknowledged the existence of a backup party structure, and offered a carefully worded response to questions about his predecessor Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
The extraordinary Central Executive Board session was convened immediately after the Ankara Regional Court of Justice issued its nullity ruling, with CHP branches, parliamentarians and local administrators called to gather at headquarters.
The meeting lasted roughly five hours under Ozel's chairmanship.
Upon its conclusion, the board's position was clear: the party would not comply with the court's interim order.
A rally bus was brought to the entrance of the building, and party officials resolved not to vacate the premises.
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What had circulated in Ankara political circles for weeks as rumour became official acknowledgement on Thursday night.
Asked whether reports of a secondary party structure were accurate, Ozel confirmed the arrangement without qualification. "Yes, there is a backup party," he said. "It existed before the absolute nullity ruling. We had prepared it against the risk of closure."
The admission brought into the open a contingency plan that had been the subject of growing speculation in recent weeks. As recently as two weeks before Thursday's ruling, CHP sources had confirmed to reporters that a backup party plan was in place, though they rejected claims that a separate headquarters building had been secured.
Reports had alleged that the party had leased a three-storey building in the Balgat district of Ankara, near the MHP's general headquarters, for the purpose.
Ozel himself had addressed the question publicly in the days before the ruling, though at the time he was careful to draw a distinction.
"There is a backup party, but it is not against the nullity ruling, it is against a closure case," he had said then, adding that any political party of sound judgment ought to maintain one or two such contingencies. "If they try to close the party, our party is ready."
On Thursday, however, with the nullity ruling now in force, Ozel extended the scope of the arrangement. He stressed that the backup structure was not a vehicle for a party split or the founding of a rival organisation, but a practical safeguard prepared for scenarios in which the CHP might be barred from elections or prevented from submitting candidate lists.
"This is not something we did against the nullity ruling," he said. "This is a preparation against a closure attempt or against moves to prevent the party from entering elections."
The most delicate exchange came when Ozel was asked about Kilicdaroglu, the man the court has ordered to return as interim leader in his place.
Ozel chose his words carefully, invoking what he described as an enduring norm within the party. "This party has a culture of respect toward former leaders," he said. "Even when former leaders criticise us, we are careful not to criticise them. I have always believed it is the duty of the sitting leader to protect their standing."
He said he had held to that principle up to and including the events of the previous day, when Kilicdaroglu published a video on social media that many in the party read as a pointed provocation. "Even after yesterday's video, I tried to maintain that," Ozel said. "I still am."
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