Özgür Özel’s 'junta' remark ignites political firestorm! AKP figures line up to respond

At the extraordinary congress held today in the Republican People's Party (CHP), the current chairman Özgür Özel was re-elected as chairman.

In the congress, where he ran as the sole candidate, Özel repeated his criticism of AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, calling him, "A junta leader, not a President."

Following Özel's speech at the congress, numerous figures, including ministers and AKP officials, entered a race to respond to him.

Many figures made statements on the social media platform X.

AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik first posted on his X account and then made statements on A Haber.

Some of those statements are as follows:

AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik:

"CHP Chairman Özgür Özel has used the term 'junta administration' regarding our President and our government. Throughout our political history, the CHP has always been the political supporter of junta administrations for decades. In the democratic political dictionary, it says 'JUNTA EQUALS CHP'. Just as Özgür Özel does not know political history, he also does not know how to construct political sentences. Using these expressions against our President, who has won every election he has entered with the national will, is nothing but malicious political ignorance. It is a typical CHP tradition; they call the will elected by democratic means a junta, and they view dark junta administrations as democracy. With our President's great political struggle, all secret and open juntas over our democracy have been neutralized. The junta-supporting CHP tradition has 'pledged allegiance to the Yassıada mentality' at this congress as well."

Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz:

"The Chairman of the main opposition party is accusing our President, who was elected by receiving more than fifty percent of our nation's votes in the May 2023 elections, and our government of being a 'junta'! Calling those elected by the people a 'junta' is essentially characterizing the people as 'junta members'. It is disregarding the national will. This language is not an expression of democratic politics, but of the tutelary tradition of today. It is at most a state of projecting the 'junta' longing within himself onto others. This language, which insults the base of the AK Party and the People's Alliance and has not received its share of political courtesy, already reveals that it will commit all kinds of extremism and oppression when it finds the opportunity. This opposition language, which aims for tension, polarization, and camp-building, will have no result other than harm to the main opposition party, our country, and our democracy. This irresponsible and aggressive style of politics, as it has many times in the past, will receive the necessary democratic response from our people at the ballot box when the time comes. On the other hand, the ugly tone displayed towards our Minister of Treasury and Finance is unacceptable. This approach means disrupting our economic stability, damaging the environment of trust, and harming the welfare of our people. A responsible opposition requires not undermining the economy, but supporting economic policies with constructive criticisms for the welfare of 85 million. No matter what irresponsible politicians say; under the resolute leadership of our President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with the prayers and support of our nation, we will continue to build the Century of Turkey. We will walk towards new goals on the path of democracy and development, reach the goal of a Terror-Free Turkey, protect our national interests with an effective foreign policy, and while implementing our economic program with determination, we will continue to work with all our strength to increase the welfare of our people."

Minister of Health Kemal Memişoğlu:

"The statements of CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, who targeted our President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom our nation elected with its supreme appreciation and free will, and our government, by using the words 'junta administration' and 'has lost its legitimacy', are in no way acceptable.

Opposing is a democratic right; it is essential that it be used with a sensitivity that requires responsibility, without harming the unity and solidarity of our country, with a resolute and principled policy. A language that arbitrarily disregards the elected national will for the sake of a so-called 'Pyrrhic victory' they hope to achieve is unacceptable. Our President has built his existence in our political history on democratic elections. In short, Özgür Özel's expressions are the product of a distorted way of thinking that is detached from reality."

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç:

"The ugly expressions directed at our President by the Chairman of the Republican People's Party regarding the judicial investigations conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office are nothing more than an effort to divert the target, create perception, and put pressure on the judiciary.

Calling the first President elected by the votes of the people, who served as Prime Minister for the longest uninterrupted period by being elected consecutively with the highest rates in our democratic political life, a 'junta leader' is a denial of democratic legitimacy and a confession of intolerance towards the will of our nation. Our noble nation, which has engraved the 'Yassıada Mentality'—which walked hand in hand with the tutelage order and produced politics in the shadow of coup periods—into its memory, has the wisdom to distinguish between those who fight against tutelage and those who grow in its shadow.

Our President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has fought against memorandums, street uprisings, and the bloody coup attempt on July 15 together with his nation, protected democracy, and buried the coup-plotting junta mentality in history. What falls to the CHP Chairman is to contribute to the realization of justice and respect the legal process by advising his friends who are subject to judicial investigations to account before the judiciary and use their rights of defense against the accusations made, instead of trying to influence the judicial process."

Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır:

"Describing our President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was elected by direct popular vote for the first time, and our government as a junta is a disrespect to the free will of the Turkish Nation. The main opposition party cannot get rid of its intolerance for the National Will. Being a junta supporter is a title befitting enemies of democracy who have been supporters of coups and memorandums against the national will from May 27 to March 12, from February 28 to April 27. Turkey will be one of the game-changing powers of the new world order where nothing will be the same as before. No attack made from inside or outside to disrupt this journey will succeed."

Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin:

"The slander of 'junta administration' by the CHP Chairman against our President and our legitimate government, elected by the free will of the nation, is not just political discourtesy; it is an open attack on democracy. This rhetoric is the projection of the old tutelage mentality that cannot internalize the ballot box and disregards the decision of the nation. This nation has experienced May 27, September 12, February 28, and July 15. It was clear who stood in line in front of the coup plotters and who did politics in the shadow of tanks during those dark periods. Those who speak today by calling our President and our government a 'junta administration' are the continuation of the mentality that walked hand in hand with the junta yesterday. Archives reveal the CHP's political record, which is intertwined with coups, one by one. Today, the same CHP is seeking to establish a new tutelage order by targeting the independent judiciary. This understanding, which does not recognize court decisions and violates justice when it does not like the judge, is actually not hostile to those elected by the nation, but to the nation itself. The CHP is a party that has gained power through coups and sought power through tutelage. Today, it is trying to discredit the people's government with the habits of that dark past. However, those eras are now behind us. In the second century of our Republic, this nation will neither forgive coup plotters again nor ignore those who salute them. Neither tutelage nor slander works in these lands anymore. In this country, the word, the decision, and the future belong to the nation."

Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun:

"The main opposition leader resorts to all kinds of distortion, manipulation, and slander methods to cover up the factional wars within his own party, suppress the reaction of the party base, and make allegations of corruption and suspicion invisible. He acts like an organized network of evil to polarize society, discredit the political institution, and legitimize a language that is at odds with the values of our nation. For those whose own political history is full of coups, tutelage centers, and anti-democratic interventions to make immoral and reckless insults like 'junta leader' to our President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has dedicated his life to the national will and fought resolutely against tutelage centers, is, to put it mildly, political immorality and lack of manners.

Our President is a leader who has stood by the nation, defended democracy, and strengthened civil politics against all tutelage attempts from February 28 to April 27, from December 17-25 to July 15. Those who long for a junta and those who engage in political engineering through the judiciary and media will see the 'junta' mentality they are looking for when they look in the mirror. Our nation has witnessed many times how this tutelary understanding has fought for power within its party with searches for informal politics and parallel structures. Now this witnessing continues, and every plot set against the national will is condemned in the conscience of the nation. Our nation knows the mentality displayed in Yassıada, on May 27, September 12, February 28, and July 15 well, and continues to give the answer these modern representatives of this mentality deserve at the ballot box and on every legitimate ground. Under the leadership of our President, who stands resolutely by the truth, the nation, and democracy, we continue our path in line with the Century of Turkey goals."

AKP Secretary General Eyyüp Kadir İnan:

"The history of the junta is the resume of the CHP. Whatever its type, Junta Stoogery is the CHP tradition. Politicians who claim to represent the CHP have turned out to be junta representatives. In the history of Turkish democracy, the murderer of the national will has always been the CHP. When asked 'Who is the anti-democracy party in Turkey?', only one party comes to mind, and that is the CHP. It is known to everyone how they pinned their hopes on Assad in terms of becoming the Baath of Turkey. Because their love for dictatorship existed yesterday and exists today. When dictatorship is mentioned, only one party comes to mind! And that is the Republican People's Party! Up until now, the spokesperson and apparatus of all coups, including the coup attempt by FETÖ scoundrels, has been the Republican People's Party. While we were fighting against the vile coup plotters together with our nation on July 15, you were praying for the FETÖ junta members to successfully carry out the coup. The 'we will return' speeches of the vile FETÖ members before May 14 were made based on the possibility of the CHP winning. Therefore! Özgür Özel, you are the man lying in front of all FETÖ institutions! You are the one who acted as a shield for FETÖ members in front of the İzmir Courthouse! We know you well, we know you well. You cannot make this nation forget your coup-plotting FETÖ and junta-loving ways just because you took off your glasses and dyed your hair. Those who think it is easy to insult a leader who has won the favor of the nation in every election he has entered and has brought this country to democratic maturity by fighting against military tutelage will receive the greatest answer from our noble nation. Because history will write the response of our Leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the eyes of the nation and the oppressed in golden letters. As the AK Party, we will not let this insolent speech go in any position."

Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan:

"CHP Chairman Özgür Özel's use of the term 'junta' for our President and our government is, to put it mildly, an insult to the free will of the nation. Those insolent people who insult our President and our government, who won the elections they entered with the will of our noble nation, and question their legitimacy, should first remember their own history, the periods when they walked hand in hand with tutelage, and the practices where they disregarded democracy. Under the leadership of our President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said 'I recognize no will other than the will of the nation' against the dirty plans of tutelage centers and stood against the treacherous coup attempt together with our nation, we will continue to advance towards the Century of Turkey goals. Those who call the national will a 'junta' should first explain the scandals they experienced in their parties!"