Ümit Özdağ, leader of the far-right, anti-refugee Victory Party (ZP), was detained in Ankara on Monday evening following the launch of an investigation into him on allegations of publicly insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the İhlas News Agency (İHA) reported.
The investigation by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office was opened over Özdağ’s remarks made during a meeting of his party’s provincial chairpersons on January 19.
Özdağ was detained while dining at a restaurant in Ankara. He was expected to be transferred to İstanbul where he would testify to prosecutors.
During his speech the ZP leader compared the damage caused by the Crusades, which targeted Muslims and the Ottoman Empire, to the damage caused by Erdoğan’s party.
“No crusade in history has caused as much harm to the Turkish nation and the Turkish state as Erdoğan and [his Justice and Development Party] AKP have,” he said.
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated by European Christians to reclaim the Holy Land — Jerusalem and surrounding areas considered sacred by Christians, Muslims and Jews — from Muslim control. They targeted regions such as Anatolia and the Levant, clashing with the Seljuks and other Muslim powers.
In his speech the ZP leader accused Erdoğan of filling the Turkish state with spies, harming the beliefs of the Turkish nation, alienating them from Islam and turning people into deists, atheists and Christians through his government’s policies, dividing the state among religious sects and communities and destroying Turkish culture by allowing millions of refugees and illegal migrants into the country.
“What is happening is, in fact, AKP fascism,” he said.
Özdağ stood behind his words earlier on Monday following the launch of the investigation into him, saying on X that he was ready to repeat the same speech a thousand more times.
“It doesn’t matter if you put me in prison or shoot me to death,” he said.
He is also accused of “fomenting hatred and enmity among the people” in the investigation.
Turkish police and the judiciary have perceived even the most minor criticism of the president or his government as an insult over the last decade.
Thousands of people in Turkey are currently under investigation, and most of them are under the threat of imprisonment over alleged insults of Erdoğan or the AKP.
Whoever insults the president can face up to four years in prison, a sentence that can be increased if the crime was committed through the mass media. Any person who criticizes the government can be sentenced to up to two years.
The insult cases generally stem from social media posts shared by Erdoğan opponents.