Dissident leader Ozgur Ozel maintains a tense relationship with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he accuses of being a “coup-monger” and demands early elections.
The Turkish opposition, led mainly by the social-democratic CHP party, marched in Ankara on Wednesday to mark National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, defying a government ban on public gatherings.
Encouraged by dissident leader Ozgur Ozel, thousands of CHP supporters took to the streets and headed toward Ataturk’s mausoleum in a defiant move against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. Amid the political turmoil triggered by the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor, the government has banned all public demonstrations.
Nevertheless, security forces did not block the demonstrators’ passage or use force against them—something Ozel hailed as a victory against what he described as a “coup junta.”
“The Governor is not to blame (for the ban). On one side, we are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal; on the other, the tin soldiers of the junta,” he said to the thousands of dissidents marching with him.
“We, all the democrats of Turkey, unite against the tutelage centers trying to stop us,” he added.
Every April 23, Turkey celebrates National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, commemorating the first session of the Republican Parliament in 1920. A traditional march is held to Ataturk’s mausoleum.
While this has long been a customary event in Turkish society, this year’s march added to other recent protests led by the CHP, expressing discontent with Erdogan’s government—especially after the arrest of his main rival, Istanbul Governor Ekrem Imamoglu.
Since Imamoglu’s detention on March 19, just days before he was set to run in the party’s internal elections as the frontrunner, the opposition has been staging protests, demanding his release and calling for early presidential elections, currently scheduled for 2028.
“In November, at the latest, you will come face to face with our candidate. We will challenge you—we want our candidate beside us. We invite you to once again appeal to the people’s will,” Ozel warned Erdogan in a recent video.
Far from positioning himself as a candidate, Ozel expressed confidence that the judiciary will release Imamoglu and that he will be the one to secure the nation’s top executive office.
“Our plan A, B, C, and D is for him to be our candidate in the next election. Every poll shows that Imamoglu would defeat Erdogan—that’s why they canceled his diploma and filed five different lawsuits against him (…) This is a coup against a rival, against the next president,” he said.
Erdogan, in turn, lashed out at Ozel over his statements, accusing him of trying to “sow terror” in the country and “attack” democracy.
“They are using street terror against the national will (…) They are trying to create an atmosphere of chaos (…) but the days of hijacking the national will with leftist organizations and vandals are over. They will be held accountable for their actions,” Erdogan declared.
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