, has expressed regret over the silence of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the arrest of İstanbul’s popular mayor, which sparked widespread protests across Turkey.){kind=link}
Özgür Özel, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has expressed regret over the silence of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the arrest of İstanbul’s popular mayor, which sparked widespread protests across Turkey.
Özel’s remarks came during an interview with the BBC on Wednesday.
He said while other European leaders and countries are condemning the arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the silence of Starmer and his Labour Party is “really hard to understand.”
İmamoğlu was arrested on Sunday and subsequently removed from office. He, as well as more than 100 others in two investigations launched by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, face terrorism and corruption charges, which many critics say are politically motivated to sideline the mayor ahead of the next presidential election.
“We feel abandoned. What kind of friendship is this, what kind of a brother party is this? How can the UK, the cradle of democracy, and our brother party, the Labour Party, remain silent about this? We are truly offended,” Özel said.
CHP lideri Özgür Özel, BBC ile röportajında İngiltere Başbakanı Keir Starmer'ın Türkiye'deki protestolarla ilgili tutumunu eleştirdi pic.twitter.com/J4kSkNBFd7
— BBC News Türkçe (@bbcturkce) March 26, 2025
Both Labour and the CHP are members of the Party of European Socialists and the Progressive Alliance. Labour holds observer status in the London-based Socialist International while the CHP is a member.
The arrest of İmamoğlu and other opposition politicians has attracted widespread criticism from Europe, the UN and some political parties and organizations around the continent.
İmamoğlu is widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest potential political challenger. His arrest has sparked nights of street protests on a scale unseen in Turkey since 2013.
The European Commission on Monday urged Turkey to “uphold democratic values” as both a member of the Council of Europe and an EU candidate state, following the arrest of İmamoğlu.
“We want Turkey to remain anchored to Europe, but this requires a clear commitment to democratic norms and practices,” commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier told reporters.
Germany, Greece and France also condemned İmamoğlu’s arrest in separate statements throughout the week, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday voiced US “concerns” to visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan over the arrests and large protests in the country following the mayor’s arrest.
The UK has so far kept its silence.