A Turkish court on Thursday ordered main opposition New Party leader Özgür Özel to pay President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan TL 800,000 ($16,500) in damages over remarks he made in three speeches in August 2025, when he was chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Özel was removed as CHP chairman by a court in May 2026 and two months later founded the New Party with 90 lawmakers who resigned from the CHP. The new party subsequently became Turkey’s main opposition party.
Erdoğan’s lawyer, Hüseyin Aydın, announced the rulings on X, saying the Ankara 44th Civil Court of First Instance awarded damages over what he called “baseless allegations and insulting remarks” targeting the president.
The court ordered Özel to pay TL 200,000 over remarks he made outside Marmara Prison in İstanbul on August 13, 2025, and TL 300,000 over a speech at a CHP rally in İstanbul’s Bayrampaşa district later the same day. It awarded a further TL 300,000 over comments at a rally in the western province of Aydın on August 18.
The speeches came amid a growing crackdown on the CHP that intensified after the March 2025 arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s strongest political rival and the party’s presidential candidate.
Speaking after visiting İmamoğlu at Marmara Prison, Özel accused Erdoğan’s government of using criminal investigations to pressure opposition mayors into joining the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
He cited Aydın Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu, then a prominent CHP politician, claiming she had effectively been given a choice between joining the AKP and facing imprisonment over dealings with businessman Aziz İhsan Aktaş, a central figure in corruption investigations targeting CHP-run municipalities.
Erdoğan subsequently filed a TL 1 million lawsuit for damages and a criminal complaint accusing Özel of insulting the president in his remarks outside the prison.
Çerçioğlu resigned from the CHP the following day and joined the AKP along with several other opposition mayors. She denied that she had been pressured to defect.
At the Bayrampaşa rally on August 13, Özel accused Erdoğan of using threats and judicial pressure to take control of municipalities the AKP had failed to win at the ballot box.
“You don’t want democracy because if there were democracy, you would lose,” Özel told Erdoğan. “You don’t want justice because if there were justice, you wouldn’t be able to hide your crimes.”
Five days later in Aydın, Özel accused Erdoğan and the AKP of overriding the will of voters and described the transfer of opposition mayors as “political pickpocketing.” He challenged Erdoğan to allow a new election in the province.
Numerous CHP mayors and municipal officials have been detained or arrested in corruption investigations since late 2024. The CHP says the cases are part of a government campaign to weaken the party after it defeated the AKP nationwide in the March 2024 local elections.
Erdoğan and government officials deny political interference and say the investigations concern corruption allegations.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
