Turkey's CHP registered a new U.S. office as a foreign agent. The filing lists no party payments

A new Washington company has registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent of Turkey's Republican People's Party, known as the CHP. The filing lists no payments from the party. The temporary board says it will serve without pay.

On Oct. 20, 2026, CHP USA Representative Office LLC filed a registration statement under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. That 1938 law requires people and firms acting in the United States for foreign governments, political parties and certain other foreign principals to identify themselves and describe their work. The Justice Department assigned the company registration number 7782. The records were retrieved from the department's public FARA eFile system on Nov. 10, 2026.

The registrant lists a business address at 1717 N Street NW, Suite 1, in Washington. It was organized in the District of Columbia on Oct. 14. That was six days after CHP headquarters in Ankara issued a written authorization to set up a U.S. office, according to Exhibits A and B filed the same day. The company says it is wholly owned by Emine Sahin Karakaslioglu. She is a Turkish citizen and attorney, and she is named as president of a temporary governing board. Three other Turkish citizens living in the New York and Washington areas are listed as vice president, secretary and treasurer. Those posts, the registration says, do not give them an ownership share in the LLC.

Registering under FARA is a legal disclosure requirement. It is not a finding of wrongdoing. The Justice Department has not accused the company, the CHP or the named officers of violating the Act. The forms do not allege any crime. The filing also does not show that the office has yet met with U.S. officials. It does not show that the office has spent party money. It does not show an attempt to influence a specific U.S. bill or nomination.

What the office says it will do#

The registration describes the company as the U.S. representative office of the Republican People's Party of Turkey. It says the office will conduct "lawful political, organizational, community outreach, public relations, and related activities."

Exhibit B says the relationship comes from a written authorization dated Oct. 7, 2026. CHP General Headquarters issued it. The authorization appoints Karakaslioglu as president of the temporary governing board. It "directs the temporary governing board to establish and organize the Representative Office and to convene its general assembly within six months." The exhibit says the authorization "does not specify compensation or expense reimbursement."

The proposed work is set out in plain language. The registrant says it will organize outreach among Turkish citizens in the United States. It says it will hold meetings and events. It says it will explain CHP policies and political developments in Turkey to interested audiences. It also says it will prepare or send CHP materials through a website and social media. "During Turkish election periods, the registrant may also conduct political outreach among Turkish citizens in the United States concerning CHP and its positions," the exhibit says.

The company checked "yes" when asked whether the work includes political activities as defined in the Act. That term covers activity meant to influence U.S. officials, or any section of the U.S. public, about U.S. policy or the interests of a foreign government or political party. In an appendix, the company says those activities will be "directed primarily toward Turkish citizens and other interested members of the public in the United States." The aim, it says, is to inform and influence public awareness of the CHP's policies and positions. The means listed are community outreach, meetings, public events, presentations and statements. Materials would also go out by website, social media, email and other electronic communications.

The registration also says informational materials will be prepared in English and Turkish. They may be sent to public officials, legislators, government agencies, newspapers, editors, civic groups, educational groups and nationality groups. An appendix adds "Turkish citizens and other interested audiences in the United States." The company listed a website, chpamerika.org, and an Instagram account, instagram.com/chpabd. It said no budget had been set for that work at the time of registration. It also said it had not prepared or sent informational materials before the Oct. 20 filing.

That last point was updated 10 days later. On Oct. 30, the company filed informational materials covering seven Instagram posts on the @chpabd account, captured that day. The packet includes images and Turkish captions. The posts concern Anıtkabir, the U.S. office itself, the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline, a Republic Day reel, an announcement about the CHP in the United States, an announcement concerning Karakaslioglu, and the appointment of the interim executive board. The filing reproduces captions in Turkish as displayed. It does not include an English translation. The audio and video in the reel are not reproduced.

A temporary board, three resignations and a $288 start#

The Oct. 7 authorization is signed by Semra Dincer. The document identifies her as the CHP deputy chair responsible for overseas organization. It named six people to the temporary board: Karakaslioglu as president, and Zeki Yesilyurt, Sediye Yalcin, Burcu Yildiz Yenigun, Deniz Gunduz Vangilder and Kebire Kayabas as members.

A letter dated Oct. 17 from Karakaslioglu is attached to Exhibit B. It says Yesilyurt, Yalcin and Kayabas later "voluntarily resigned from the temporary governing board and are no longer serving." On the same day as the authorization, she wrote, she appointed Esra Yener Agdere as treasurer. The current board reported in the registration is therefore four people. Karakaslioglu is president. Yenigun is vice president. Ozgun Deniz Gunduz Vangilder is secretary. Agdere is treasurer. The letter is offered to explain why the Justice Department filing lists four officers rather than the six names on the Ankara document.

Short-form registrations for all four officers were also received on Oct. 20. They say each will serve "on a voluntary and uncompensated basis." Each form says the officer "has not received and will not receive any salary, fees, commission, or other thing of value for these services." Karakaslioglu's short form lists her occupation as attorney and her year of birth as 1983. All four list Turkish nationality and Turkish citizenship. Each signed the forms on Oct. 17.

The only money reported in the 60 days before registration is a $288 District of Columbia LLC formation fee. It was paid on Oct. 12 to Northwest Registered Agent, LLC. The registration says Karakaslioglu paid that amount "from her personal funds" and "will not be reimbursed" by the LLC. The company answered "no" when asked whether it had received any money, or any other thing of value, from the CHP or anyone else for the party's benefit in that period. It also reported no political contributions by the registrant or the short-form filers in that window. It reported no prior registrable activities for the party before the registration date.

1. 2026-10-07CHP General Headquarters issues a written authorization naming a temporary U.S. board
2. 2026-10-12Karakaslioglu pays a $288 D.C. LLC formation fee from personal funds
3. 2026-10-14CHP USA Representative Office LLC is organized in Washington
4. 2026-10-17The four remaining officers sign the FARA forms; a letter explains three resignations
5. 2026-10-20The Justice Department receives registration 7782
6. 2026-10-30The company files Instagram informational materials from the @chpabd account

Source: DOJ FARA registration 7782, Registration Statement, Exhibits A and B, Informational Materials

The sequence is short. The authorization, the company formation and the Justice Department filing all took place within two weeks. The forms do not say when, or whether, the general assembly required within six months will be held. They do not attach a budget for the months after registration.

The party fight in Turkey is the backdrop, not a fact established by the forms#

The registration names the foreign principal as Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP) — Republican People's Party. It gives an address at the party's general headquarters in Ankara's Sogutozu district. Exhibit A is used when the foreign principal is a foreign political party. It names Dincer as the official the registrant engages. It describes the party's aim as seeking "to advance democracy, the rule of law, human rights, secularism, equality, social justice, and sustainable economic development in Turkiye through democratic political participation."

Dincer's official biography on the CHP website, reviewed on Nov. 10, 2026, lists her title as deputy chair responsible for overseas organization. That matches the title on the Oct. 7 authorization. The biography page does not discuss the U.S. FARA filing.

The U.S. forms do not name Kemal Kilicdaroglu or Ozgur Ozel. They do not describe the party's 2026 leadership dispute. That dispute is still the political context in which a new overseas office was authorized. An Ankara regional appeals court in May 2026 annulled the CHP's November 2023 congress, at which Ozel had been elected chairman. It ordered Kilicdaroglu and the pre-congress leadership to resume their duties on an interim basis, according to contemporaneous reporting by TRT Afrika, a service of Turkey's state broadcaster. The court also voided later congresses and decisions, that account said. The decision could be appealed. 567 Politics has since covered Kilicdaroglu as the CHP leader in contacts with other parties. That includes Speaker Numan Kurtulmus's Nov. 10 meeting with him on a proposed committee to monitor PKK disarmament. It also includes the party's position on a defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. A separate story has followed the prosecution of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a leading CHP figure, and a related filing at the European Court of Human Rights.

The FARA record does not itself prove which faction of a split opposition controls every CHP overseas group. It does not resolve the Turkish court fight. What it does show is that the U.S. company identifies its principal as the CHP at the Ankara headquarters address. It also shows that the official named on the authorization holds the overseas-organization portfolio on the party's public website. Readers should treat those as facts about the filing, not as a verdict on the underlying leadership case.

What the filing does not show#

The forms are an opening snapshot, not a log of later work. They do not list any meetings with members of Congress, the State Department or other U.S. agencies. They do not name U.S. candidates, bills or regulations the office intends to influence. They do not attach a contract for fees, because the officers say there are none. They do not show whether chpamerika.org is active. They do not show how large the Instagram audience is. They do not include an English translation of the Turkish captions in the Oct. 30 packet. And they do not show whether the three people who resigned from the temporary board have been replaced.

The registration also does not establish that the CHP has transferred money into the United States for this office. The only dollar figure in the initial packet is the $288 formation fee paid by Karakaslioglu. Later supplemental statements, which registrants must file from time to time, would be the place to look for later receipts, spending and political contacts. Those statements are not in the Nov. 10 document index for registration 7782.

FARA registration is often confused with a corruption finding or a campaign donation. It is neither. The Act is a public-disclosure statute. A separate 567 Politics review of FARA records on Jason Miller's firm and India showed how much more a filing can contain when a contract, a monthly fee and named official contacts are disclosed. The CHP packet is thinner. It describes planned outreach, names a temporary board and records a $288 start-up cost. That narrower record is what the documents support.

The Justice Department's FARA Unit stamps incoming forms and posts them. The stamp is not an endorsement of the registrant's work. It is not a clearance that every later activity will be lawful. It is evidence that, as of Oct. 20, a new U.S. office of Turkey's main opposition party chose to disclose itself under the statute that applies to agents of foreign political parties.

How the people and the party have described the work#

The most detailed account of the office's purpose in the public record is the one the officers signed under penalty of perjury and filed with the Justice Department. In those forms, they present the office as a representative body of a foreign political party. They say it was organized under a written mandate from Ankara. They say it is staffed by unpaid officers. They say it is aimed chiefly at Turkish citizens and other interested people in the United States.

Dincer's public role, as stated on the party's own site, is to manage overseas organization. The authorization she signed is the legal hook for the U.S. filing. 567 Politics did not obtain a separate interview with Dincer, Karakaslioglu, the other officers or CHP headquarters about the Justice Department registration. In the absence of a later statement, the signed forms and the party website biography are the responses on the record.

Critics of foreign-agent activity often argue that even unpaid diaspora offices can shape U.S. debate. They say such offices should be watched closely once they begin contacting officials or circulating campaign-season material. Supporters of such offices argue that a political party is entitled to speak to citizens living abroad. They say registering under FARA is the lawful way to do so. Both of those arguments can be stated without treating the act of filing as proof of misconduct. The next tests will be whether the office convenes its general assembly, whether later statements show money from Ankara, and whether the company reports contacts with U.S. officials. Those facts are not in the initial packet.

The registration should be read as what it is: a new, disclosed U.S. office of Turkey's Republican People's Party, organized in October 2026, reporting no party payments and an unpaid board, against the backdrop of a still-contested fight over who leads that party at home.

Differing perspectives

Should Turkey's CHP operate a registered U.S. office to organize among citizens living in America?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Register and organize under FARA

  Who holds it: CHP USA Representative Office LLC and the temporary board named in registration 7782

  The officers argue that the office is the lawful U.S. representative body of a foreign political party, organized under a written authorization from CHP headquarters in Ankara. They say their job is to establish the office, convene a general assembly within six months, and explain the party's policies to Turkish citizens and other interested audiences in the United States, including during Turkish election periods. They report that they will serve without pay, that the party has sent no money, and that registering under FARA is how they are disclosing that work.

  In their words: CHP USA Representative Office LLC, FARA Exhibits A and B ↗

• Require public disclosure of the relationship

  Who holds it: The Justice Department's FARA Unit, in the department's official description of the Act

  The Justice Department says the Foreign Agents Registration Act requires certain agents of foreign principals engaged in political or other specified activities to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, and of activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. That disclosure, the department says, facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of those activities in light of the person's function as a foreign agent. On that view, a new U.S. office of a foreign party should be on the public record before and while it organizes, publishes materials or contacts officials.

  In their words: U.S. Department of Justice, National Security Division ↗

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