site.btaTurkish Opposition Leader Piqued by European Socialists Member Parties' Dialogue with President Erdogan

Ozgur Ozel, the leader of Turkiye's main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), criticized national parties that are members of the Party of European Socialists (PES) and their leaders in power for the dialogue they hold with Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ozel's remarks, made in Brussels during a PES summit, were met with a response from Turkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), whose spokesperson Omer Celik described his behaviour as "desperate".

The Turkish news agency Anka quoted Ozel as saying: "If, while fighting against some authoritarian leaders, you support other authoritarian leaders, you will leave a social-democratic party like ours alone – the one that currently has the most mayors in the world. A party that has become number one in its country and will take power at the next elections, turning the direction of the wind both in Europe and for all left-wing parties."

Ozel thanked former Swedish prime minister and current PES leader Stefan Lofven for his support for the CHP. The Turkish opposition leader said: "You have been with us in Turkiye several times and have shown support for the organization at the highest level. I want to thank you for that. However, the situation is not the same across our entire social-democratic and socialist family. […] We receive significant support at parliamentary level, but when it comes to real action, our brothers and sisters from our fraternal parties in power become extremely cautious. This strengthens Erdogan's positions in Turkiye. In Turkiye, Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been elected mayor of a 16 million population city [Istanbul] three times consecutively, is in prison. Three mayors of major provincial cities in Turkiye – Antalya, Adana and Istanbul – are in prison. Also in prison are 16 municipal mayors and 102 politicians. Nine months later, only the indictment is ready, and the first hearing is scheduled in three months."

Over nine months, the Turkish opposition held 75 rallies, Ozel went on to say. "There is a great struggle in Turkiye," he noted. "In the last elections, we won municipalities that constitute 65% of the population and 85% of the economy of Turkiye, and now we are under heavy pressure. In a country like Turkiye, where the left has drawn 38% of the electorate, defeated Erdogan after 25 years, and became number one again after 47 years, I am truly curious how much attention our friends in Europe pay to serious human rights violations and attacks in Turkiye, and how aware they are of them," the CHP leader said.

He said he understands Europe's concerns about defence and security and supports everything Turkiye must do in this regard. "However, the resolution of problems created by these authoritarian leaders, whether they are authoritarian populists or simply authoritarian leaders, cannot be sought solely through local authoritarian leaders. We can fight the problems created by authoritarian leaders democratically, and if there is to be an alliance against authoritarian leaders, its name should be 'democratic alliance'," Ozel added.

He emphasized the support of PES as a common European family but asked to what extent the parties that are members of it value this support and contribute to its implementation. He argued: "It is a fact that we are parties from one family. The Labour Party in the United Kingdom today is with Erdogan. It showed him more support than expected. We cannot accept this. I oppose it on every platform and will continue to do so. You cannot solve the problems created by authoritarian leaders with authoritarian leaders. What Erdogan or any other authoritarian leader promises you is not stability. If there is democracy in a country, that democracy can ensure good relations and stability. If democracy is absent and autocracy prevails, you may receive promises of mutually beneficial relations, but in the long term, it can open the door to new instability."

Ozel asked the participants in the PES meeting in Brussels what kind of Turkiye they want on the borders of the European Union. "Will it be a democratic Turkiye at the EU border, and in that Turkiye will the social-democrats you belong to in the common family be in power, or at your border, when we are so close to success, will you allow an authoritarian leader to crush the party you share a common family with, and will this authoritarian leader continue to do so while you maintain stable relations with him? Everyone should think carefully about this. Europe's security requires a democratic and strong Turkiye so that Turkiye can become a full member of the European Union and so that the bad dream that has haunted Europe for the past 25 years can end."

Ozel's remarks were met with pushback from Turkiye's ruling AK Party. On his Facebook profile, AK Party spokesperson Omer Celik commented on the words and behaviour of the leader of the opposition CHP. Celik wrote: "Ozgur Ozel has turned complaining about Turkiye and our President into political behaviour in order to gain support abroad. This situation is a very bad page in the biography of a political party and politician. He has also criticized the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, who refused to meet him, while in fact this is a situation from which he should learn a lesson. He needs to understand and reflect on the fact that abroad, at every summit, foreign leaders are eager to meet our President [Erdogan]."

Responding to Ozel's question about what kind of Turkiye the EU wants at its border, Celik compared the question to an invitation for other parties to intervene in Turkiye's domestic politics. "Seeking support from parties in other countries so that the CHP can gain power is desperate," said the AK Party spokesperson.