CHP Chairman Özgür Özel: It is impossible to accept this, to remain silent about this, to swallow this

Following the detention of Zafer Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ in Ankara as part of an investigation into insulting the President, reactions from political figures have begun to emerge one after another.

After Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel also shared a post on his social media account.

Here are those lines from Özel:

Detaining Zafer Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ at a restaurant where he was eating instead of summoning him to give a statement is a continuation of the attempts to discredit opposition politicians...

It is impossible to accept this, to remain silent about this, to swallow this.

Regardless of the disagreements between them, the reputation of a political party's chairman is entrusted to the chairmen of other political parties. Every step taken by those who do not possess this virtue goes down in our political history as a black mark.

What has happened also places responsibility on Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, as he is a former member of parliament.

I call out to Tayyip Erdoğan once again: Withdraw your subcontractors from the struggle against political rivals and bring the ballot box before the nation as soon as possible.

I have tasked our Group Deputy Chairman Ali Mahir Başarır and our Deputy Chairman Özgür Karabat to visit the Chairman, who we have learned has been brought to Istanbul, and to accompany the process.

Detaining Zafer Party Chairman @umitozdag at a restaurant where he was eating instead of summoning him to give a statement is a continuation of the attempts to discredit opposition politicians...

It is impossible to accept this, to remain silent about this, to swallow this.

Regardless of the disagreements between them…

— Özgür Özel (@eczozgurozel) January 20, 2025