The Wizard of Özel

Issue #253

Turkey is moving to Bluesky after several celebrities and many protest organizers were blocked on X.

Of course, we welcome the migration to a less-tampered algorithm – here’s our English and Turkish accounts – though İFÖD notes Turkish authorities have sought to block at least 44 Bluesky accounts, implementation pending.

As users on Turkey’s yerli ve milli platform put it: a new public square is forming – until Musk buys it.

In this week’s recap:

• CHP re-elects Özel, plans rallies

• Trump steps into Turkey-Israel spat

• Erdoğan meets DEM delegation

• Domestic and diplomatic wraps

• Weak password ends çiğ köfte drug op

Also from us this week:

• Emily Rice Johnson on how Turkey’s protests, past and present, fuel creativity.

• Parliament is back from break this week, and so is Meclis recap. Subscribe here.

In Sunday’s congress, Özel sat next to a chair reserved for İmamoğlu. © CHP

Turkey’s main opposition CHP held an extraordinary congress Sunday with two primary goals:

1. Shield the party from the prospects of a state-appointed trustee

2. Stem the mounting judicial procedures against party members

The first objective was achieved, maybe, only because trustees tend to kayyım without warning. The second faltered Tuesday, when CHP chair Özgür Özel landed a new 500,000 TL lawsuit for calling Pres. Erdoğan a "junta leader" in his victory speech.

What happened: After the congress rules and candidates were established, Özel ran uncontested, reclaiming the party leadership with 1,171 of 1,276 votes. In his address, he reiterated calls for early elections and asked Erdoğan if Washington greenlit the arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.

That theory began making rounds because Erdoğan and Trump talked by phone days before the arrest. It was then fueled by US Sen. Chris Murphy, who said the series of events were “not a coincidence”. In that context, Özel Sunday said:

“I am calling out … to the junta leader Erdoğan who attempted a coup [on the CHP]” … “In the first election to be held, neither America nor Trump will save you."

Observers said Özel’s putschist claims are an intentional reversal of rhetoric. Erdoğan’s AKP often labels the CHP as the coup-supporting party, as did FM Hakan Fidan and AKP spox Ömer Çelik in their responses to Özel:

“CHP has always been at odds with the national will. If there is talk of coups, CHP is invariably involved. They have consistently accused elected leaders of juntaism,” Çelik said Monday.

Meanwhile: Prosecutors Tuesday opened 20 investigations against 819 people for participating in “unauthorized” demonstrations after İmamoğlu’s arrest. This comes after actor Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu and 10 others were detained last week for supporting the CHP’s economic boycott.

Today, journalists Timur Soykan and Murat Ağırel were detained in early morning home raids.

Before all that, the European Committee of the Regions had called for the immediate release of Turkey’s jailed mayors in a statement, and that continued democratic backsliding “should lead to a review of Türkiye’s participation in EU financial and institutional programs."

With Turkey’s opposition under growing pressure Seda Demiralp, a professor and dean of the Faculty of Administrative, Economic and Social sciences at Işık University, said Sunday’s congress also achieved a third objective:

“It manifested the inner consolidation of CHP. The [AKP] had been making the most out of the “inner divisions” of CHP, which seemed to have clearly declined during the post-March 18 process, as the recent CHP congress demonstrated with Özel and his team [Party Assembly] winning without any serious competition,” she told Turkey recap.

“The CHP congress also showed that the party is consolidated around İmamoğlu’s candidacy.”

Next: Speaking to AFP, CHP lawyer Ahmet Kiraz said Özel and İmamoğlu are now tasked with holding the party together and preparing for the presidency, respectively.

To achieve both, Demiralp said Özel will need to:

1. Sustain the energy in the opposition movement and keep supporters engaged until elections expected by 2028.

2. Communicate a vision for İmamoğlu’s presidential run with a clear action plan, “especially regarding key issues such as economics, justice or migration.”

Neither will be easy tasks, Demiralp noted, as the CHP will “have to find creative and effective means” for İmamoğlu to deliver his vision from jail.

Yet, if the CHP wants to defeat the AKP, she said the party will need to relay forward-looking solutions to everyday problems rather than focusing on the many trials against its members.

“Dissatisfaction with the incumbent party alone, due to economic mismanagement or political injustices, did not guarantee defections in the past and it will not do so in the future either,” Demiralp said.

“Defections happen when voters see a better option that is ready to govern, which is particularly important when public anxiety is high due to not just domestic, but also international threats,” she added.

Mass student-led protests resumed Tuesday in Ankara and İstanbul. CHP-led protests also resumed Wednesday in Şişli, and this coming Sunday in Samsun. İmamoğlu returns to court for three cases Friday, April 11.

Bibi went to Washington. Was not asked if he said ‘Thank you’. © White House

Beyond ‘reasonable’ clout: Trump steps into Turkey-Israel spat