CHP Leader Özgür Özel in Brussels: “What Erdoğan—or Any Other Authoritarian Leader—Promises You Is Not Stability”

Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel attended the Party of European Socialists (PES) Leaders’ Meeting held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Speaking there, CHP Leader Özel said:

“Mr. President, through you I would like to thank both the esteemed Giacomo and the Deputy Secretaries General. You have stood by us at every opportunity. You have been to Turkey with us several times and conveyed institutional support at the highest level. I thank you for that. However, the situation is not the same for our entire social democratic and socialist family. I would like to begin by voicing this concern. At the parliamentary level, we receive very important support in the Council. But when it comes to the executive level, the leaders of our sister parties who are in power are, unfortunately, extremely hesitant to show solidarity with us at this point. This, in turn, strengthens Erdoğan’s position in Turkey.”

Özel continued:

“WE ARE UNDER HEAVY ATTACK AFTER THE LOCAL ELECTIONS”

“In fact, I do not want to take up too much of your time here, but in Turkey, Ekrem İmamoğlu—the three-time consecutively elected mayor of a city of 16 million people—is in prison. In Turkey, three metropolitan mayors—the mayors of Antalya, Adana, and Istanbul—are in prison. Sixteen of my mayors and 102 of my comrades are in prison. Only after nine months was an indictment prepared, and the first hearing date was set for three months later. Over the past nine months, we have held a total of 75 major rallies across Turkey. Among these, the largest had 2.4 million participants, and the smallest drew 50,000 people. With a total of 75 major rallies, we are challenging Erdoğan. A major struggle is underway in Turkey. In the most recent local elections, we won municipalities representing 65 percent of the population and 85 percent of the economy—and since then, we have been under heavy attack.”

“YOU LEAVE A PARTY THAT WILL CREATE A NEW WIND TO STAND ALONE”

“While the left has risen to 38 percent in a country like Turkey, while Erdoğan was defeated for the first time in 25 years, while we became the leading party for the first time in 47 years, I truly wonder how attentive our friends in Europe are to the major human rights violations and the severe attacks taking place in Turkey—how aware they really are. I have said this several times before. Of course, I understand Europe’s concerns regarding defense and security. Whatever Turkey needs to do in this regard, I sincerely support it. However, the solution to the problems created by authoritarians—the problems created by authoritarian populist leaders or purely authoritarian leaders—is not to seek solutions with local authoritarians alone. The problems created by authoritarians can be fought in a democratic way, and if an alliance is to be built against authoritarians, the name of that alliance is a democracy alliance. If, while fighting some authoritarians, you support other authoritarians, you leave a party like ours—currently the social democratic party with the most mayors in the world, a party that has become the leading party in its country and will come to power in the next election, creating a new wind for all of Europe and the entire left—standing alone. As I said at the beginning, the leadership of PES, at all levels, has shown tremendous solidarity. But it feels as though, on behalf of all of us, PES’s leadership is offering its best wishes and showing the greatest solidarity. PES is an umbrella organization. But how much importance do the countries and parties that make up PES attach to this solidarity, and how much do they contribute to it? That is what I wonder.”

“THE BRITISH LABOUR PARTY’S SOLIDARITY WITH ERDOĞAN IS UNACCEPTABLE”

“There is also the reality that we are sister parties. Today, the British Labour Party is showing solidarity with Erdoğan—far beyond what Erdoğan himself expected. This is not something we can accept. I express this reaction on every platform, and I will continue to do so. You cannot solve the problems created by authoritarians with authoritarians. What Erdoğan—or any other authoritarian leader—promises you is not stability. If there is democracy in a country, that democracy can promise you good, stable relations. If there is no democracy, if there is autocracy, it offers you, for the time being, a relationship of interests. But in the long run, it opens the door to a new instability. Will there be a democratic Turkey on the border of the European Union, with social democrats—your sister party—in power? Or will you allow an authoritarian to crush your sister party when it has come so close to success, let that authoritarian continue, and then maintain ‘stable’ relations with him? Everyone needs to calculate this correctly. For Europe’s security, there is a need for a democratic and strong Turkey, for this Turkey to have a fully positive relationship with the European Union, and for the nightmare seen on Europe’s doorstep over the past 25 years to come to an end. We maintain our clearest stance on both Ukraine and Palestine. Just as we stand with Palestine, we stand equally with Ukraine. Whatever new equations emerge, whatever happens, none of us should forget what has brought us into being and what has brought us here. Workers who earn their living by the sweat of their brow, farmers who see their future in us, the oppressed, the exploited, the precarious—they sent us to this table to defend their rights and to stand in solidarity with other parties and leaders around the world who defend those rights, to carry the labor struggle forward globally. They did not send us here from our countries to compromise with authoritarians from other countries or to establish relationships of interest. Thank you all very much.”