Keçiören Mayor Mesut Özarslan broke away from his party, claiming that CHP leader Özgür Özel made “unspeakable curses” towards him and his family. After his resignation, Özarslan filed a criminal complaint regarding Özgür Özel’s messages.

Keçiören Mayor Mesut Özarslan made new statements regarding the process after the criminal complaint.

Özarslan’s statements are as follows:

As you can see, we are on our mission. We will continue to serve the public. While we were aiming to raise our services to higher levels, some people started putting incredible pressure and mobbing on us. The text messages I had with the Chairman two days ago are blasphemous and insulting to my family. In such an environment, we announced that we would no longer be in the CHP and that we were resigning. We will continue to serve our people with the motto of public service. We will continue our journey by protecting the rights of all voters who voted for us on March 31.

Why did Özgür Özel swear at Keçiören Mayor Mesut Özarslan? | Video

I filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor’s office against CHP Chairman Mr. Özgür Özel. Other members of my family also wanted to be present. We are the people of the great Turkish nation, we do not speak disrespectfully to anyone. It saddens us all that a party founded by Ataturk has fallen into such a situation.

OUR CASE IS ONE CASE

Let the country be in unity and solidarity from now on. Both our esteemed president, Mr. Erdoğan, and our wise leader, Dr. Devlet Bahçeli has started this work. This study should not be viewed as partisan. They welcome everyone with open arms. We will continue our services in this call for unity and solidarity. We will continue to support our CHP brothers without any discrimination. Our cause is only one and that is the cause of humanity.

The bill, prepared by CHP Deputy Tuncay Özkan and submitted to the Turkish Grand National Assembly with the seal of approval by the CHP Group Presidency, caused great surprise. It was seen that the bill, which was stated to be prepared for the protection of children and young people in digital media, was diametrically opposed to the policies that the party has defended to date. The fact that the CHP group presented the issues that it had described as ‘censorship’ and criticized the government for years as legislative proposals was another manifestation of the inconsistency within the party. In the bill in the Digital Mediums Commission; It was requested that all digital content be categorized as +6, +12, +16, +18, and age appropriateness and time limit mechanisms be put into effect. In this regard, it is recommended that children under the age of 16 should not spend more than 55 minutes on digital media.

REACTIONS ARE GROWING

The presentation of the bill prepared by Tuncay Özkan to the Parliament created confusion in the CHP. It is claimed that after the details of the content of the proposal emerged, reactions among the party staff increased and there were even those who wanted administrative action to be taken against Özkan. It was stated that CHP Chairman Özgür Özel was also disturbed and that he could hold a meeting with the party group regarding this crisis in a short time.

The Keçiören crisis in CHP reached its peak last night with Mayor Mesut Özarslan’s resignation statement that shook the agenda. Stating that he has been subjected to systematic smear campaigns by some cliques within the party due to his various visits recently, Özarslan emphasized that the rumors in question intensified even more after his meeting with the Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum on January 6. Underlining that they met with the Institution on the problems of Keçiören, Özarslan also criticized CHP Chairman Özgür Özel with harsh words. Noting that Özel sent a message to him at 23.59 on the night of February 7, Özarslan said, “Would a chairman swear at the mayor? Would a chairman target and insult family values? Would a chairman threaten with unspeakable words? It is out of the question for me to serve in the ranks of the CHP anymore, especially in the face of messages that include my family values ​​and my sacred existence, my mother and my late father.” Noting that it is not possible to work healthily in an environment dominated by the tone in the messages, Özarslan said, “In this context, I am resigning from my CHP membership. At this point, unfortunately, Özgür Özel and his close colleagues have nothing left, neither the path of God, the homeland, the family, nor the values ​​we consider sacred, and all sanctities have been destroyed.” Özarslan continued his statement with the statement, “I am also calling out to my friends with whom I walked the road,” and said: “The cause is a cause of humanity. I invite them to save themselves from this structure, which has moved away from its founding codes and is managed in an immoral manner, not to take part in the immorality committed against me, and to show their reactions. What was done to me and my family today should not be forgotten; if there is no reaction, one day it will be done to them too.”

The tender was bribed by the criminal organization allegedly led by Aziz İhsan Aktaş, and the mayors, including Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin, Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar, the evacuated Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar and the released and reinstated Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere, who were suspended from their duties after their arrest. Within the scope of the indictment prepared for the allegation of organizing the criminal proceedings, 200 defendants appeared before the judge for the first time on Tuesday, January 27. During the two-week period of the trial, which was held in the large courtroom at the Marmara Penal Institutions Silivri Campus, the defenses of 33 defendants, including the detained defendant Rıza Akpolat, who was suspended from his post as Beşiktaş Mayor and requested to be imprisoned from 113 to 337 years, and other detained mayors, were completed. As the trial enters its 3rd week tomorrow, in the hearing to be held this week, the defenses of 158 undetained defendants will begin to be taken, especially the undetained defendant Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who was requested to be imprisoned from 187 to 450 years in the indictment and who was cited as the leader of the organization and who was released on June 4, 2025 within the scope of effective remorse provisions. UAV

In Eskişehir, AK Party member Mihalgazi Mayor Zeynep Güneş Akgün was insulted by İYİ Party member Mehmet Emin Korkmaz through her attire. In his post on social media, Korkmaz said, “Look at the Mayor of Eskişehir/Mihalgazi! Is the duty of this political Islamist woman in shalwars to govern the district or to milk cows in her barn?” He said: Korkmaz closed his social media accounts after the reactions. Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç emphasized that discriminatory and derogatory posts regarding the targeting of President Akgün based on clothing, belief and lifestyle are unacceptable, and stated that the legal process will be carried out with determination.

REACTION FROM ÖMER ÇELİK

Korkmaz, on whom an ex officio investigation was launched by the Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for the crime of ‘inciting the public to hatred and hostility or humiliating’ in accordance with Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code within the scope of crimes against public peace, was taken into custody. Korkmaz was taken to court and arrested. AK Party Deputy Chairman and Party Spokesperson Ömer Çelik said, “We condemn the hate speech directed at our esteemed president. We will continue to fight against the politics of hate. We will hold this focus of hate, which attacked our president, to account on the basis of law.” Thanking the representatives of political parties, Çelik said, “This common sensitivity against hate speech is a great value of our country.” Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş said, “This immoral attack targeting Ms. Zeynep Güneş is a clear disrespect directed not only at a mayor, but at millions of women who stand by their labor, work, produce and add value to our country, and directly towards the will of our nation. We will never accept or normalize this indecent and self-aware mentality directed at women.” İYİ Party General Secretary Osman Ertürk Özel stated that Korkmaz was referred to the disciplinary board with a request for expulsion.

Following the normalization process that started between Türkiye and Greece, there was an increase in high-level contacts. Greek Prime Minister Kiryakos Mitsotakis will come to Türkiye on Wednesday as the guest of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. During Mitsotakis’ visit, the 6th Meeting of the Turkey-Greece High Level Cooperation Council will be held. Political, economic, commercial and cultural relations will be discussed. Steps that can be taken to increase the bilateral trade volume, which is 6.7 billion dollars in 2025, to 10 billion dollars will be discussed. Views will be exchanged on regional security, geopolitical developments and global issues. Türkiye’s contribution is expected to come to the agenda, especially in the face of the NATO mission and Europe’s security priorities. At the annual evaluation press conference held last month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, when asked about the expectations from the Erdoğan-Miçotakis meeting, said, “There is only one step. We will sit down with an intention and will to solve the existing problems and we will not leave the table until the problem is solved.”