The arrest of Ümit Özdağ is a turning point in politics!

It has been 93 days since his arrest. Three months, no less, and perhaps more.

The indictment against him was prepared after 77 days.

He is accused of "inciting the public to hatred and hostility through the press in a chain manner." He faces a prison sentence ranging from 1 year and 10 months to 7 years, 10 months, and 15 days.

The government must have thought that the longer he stays inside, the better it serves our interests, as the 16th Criminal Court of First Instance set the date for the first hearing for June 11, 2025.

They are punishing him in advance because the indictment is empty...

They are openly applying "enemy criminal law."

If there were even a shred of justice left in Turkey, he would neither be arrested on these charges nor would such an indictment be prepared against him.

The government's concern is not just to intimidate.

Because anyone who is not completely blind can see that these and similar arrests are politically harmful rather than beneficial.

They are aware of this too.

However, the matter is of strategic importance.

They probably thought, it doesn't matter if we lose a few votes.

Let us write it clearly; for the government, Ümit Özdağ is a clear and present threat...

His statement made in Antalya just before his arrest, "We will never allow the Turkish nation to be defeated by a terrorist organization, nor will we allow the state to kneel. As the Victory Party (Zafer Partisi) rises, Abdullah Öcalan will remain in Imralı. We will not allow Abdullah Öcalan to be released," is extremely important.

God forbid, as long as he remained free and continued to speak like this, he could have awakened the people of my country; he could have mobilized the streets and derailed the negotiations the government is conducting with DEM.

In that case, they would have been unable to ensure that Tayyip Erdoğan remains in that seat until his term expires, nor could they have carried out the constitutional amendment to complete their Islamist-Kurdish neo-Hamidian regime.

We can, to some extent, attribute Abdullah Öcalan's thought that "It is better if I do not leave Imralı for now" to the fear of Ümit Özdağ.

All of this is, for the Palace, a "nightmare scenario..."

Clearly, the alarm bells have been ringing.

In other words, the matter has nothing to do with the law. Let's call this political area clearing for their own projects.

But Ümit Özdağ had already been on the government's radar for some time.

A friend of mine who knows the AKP's inner workings well had said after the local elections, "The CHP became the first party, but Mr. Tayyip is paying more attention to the Victory Party."

The issue was not the vote percentage, but Ümit Özdağ's power to mobilize the masses.

Furthermore, we can say that Ümit Özdağ has begun to fill the void created by the so-called opposition of Özgür Özel, who, by appearing to be on the side of justice in strategic matters concerning the country's survival, has been carrying water to the mill of political Islamists and Kurdish nationalists.

For instance, his uncompromising stance against the 'migration engineering' projected in the US and EU, his warnings against the threat this poses, his rational approach in foreign policy that directly considers the supreme interests of the country, and his constant pulse-taking of the public in the markets and streets to voice the nation's troubles have both resonated with the people of my country and expanded his own political sphere.

Especially after the CHP began to waver, the republican, nationalist, Kemalist, and secular voters who were undecided about which political umbrella to take shelter under, and the young people who—despite appearing apolitical—showed they were actually highly political by rising up after the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, as well as the conservative people of Central Anatolia who had grown weary of the government, were slowly turning their compasses toward the Victory Party.

This was a major risk for the government.

In the end, they pressed the button.

Unfortunately, this issue has not been discussed much in recent weeks.

Ümit Özdağ is being forgotten, or rather, made to be forgotten in prison. Let's say people are having a hard time keeping up because the mill of the agenda turns so fast, but the issue is not just about that.

Whether you have ideological affinity or not, whether you agree with his political thoughts or his way of doing politics or not; there is a very serious injustice at hand.

Opposing this on principle, taking a stand, and keeping the issue on the agenda constantly until a result is reached—that is, until Ümit Özdağ is released—stands as a moral obligation before everyone who fights against the political Islamist mentality.

Let us write it clearly; this is an extremely important turning point in Turkey's political history.

Because the opposition fell behind on this, the government found the courage to press the button on March 19 and arrest the presidential candidate of the Main Opposition Party.

This became the most critical step both in the negotiations conducted with DEM and in the process leading to the operation against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

By arresting Ümit Özdağ the moment he began to mobilize the streets, they gained the chance to test the potential reaction of the opposition, and more importantly, the people of my country, to the operations that would follow.

If the necessary reflexes and reactions had been shown when he was first detained, those in power would not have been able to act so comfortably, as if walking through a village without dogs, let us conclude our article by saying.