Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), told The i Paper: “I want to hear [Keir] Starmer’s voice.”
Imamoglu, seen as a chief rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained last month on charges of corruption that he, European leaders and rights groups say are politically motivated and aimed at preventing him from becoming Turkey’s next president.
Last month, following what Ozel saw as a muted response from Labour over Imamoglu’s arrest, he threatened to block a potential Labour Party application for readmission to the Socialist International global political movement, in a symbolic expression of discontent.
Ozel calls for more rallies on Sunday after his re-election as CHP party leader in Ankara (Photo: Adem Altan / AFP)Following this, ambassador Neil Holland, head of the UK’s delegation to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe gave a speech in Vienna and said that they were closely monitoring the situation in Turkey and had raised recent events with the Turkish government.
“They’re speaking in small letters, it cannot be this quiet,” he told The i Paper.
On Sunday Ozel was re-elected party leader at an extraordinary congress in Ankara. Since becoming CHP leader in 2023, he has revitalised Turkey’s opposition and led the party to victory in the local elections in 2024 for the first time since 1977.
Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key political rival of Erdogan, was arrested last month (Photo: Ozan Kose/ AFP)
Ozel said his party would keep demonstrating against Imamoglu’s jailing and call for early elections by organising a protest in one of Turkey’s cities every weekend, with rallies in different Istanbul districts on Wednesday evenings.
On the 19 May, they will go to Izmir, a CHP stronghold, to hold a rally with the aim of getting the entire population of the city to participate. In addition, there will be gatherings every Wednesday somewhere in Istanbul, starting with districts like Sisli whose mayor has also been arrested.
People chant slogans as they listen to Ozel on 6 April 2025 in Ankara, Turkey (Photo: Serdar Ozsoy/Getty Images)
Since the arrest of Imamoglu, Ozel has been out on the streets holding opposition rallies, supporting the students, calling for a general consumer boycott on Wednesday and organising the boycott of brands close to the government.
“To stay in power, Erdogan can resort to anything, be it violence or something else. If he sees that he is in the wrong, he can also turn around and try to achieve his goal through democratic means. That’s why the pressure from the rest of the world will be very valuable.
square TURKEY Turkey protests continue despite government ban, mass arrests and media crackdown
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However, even if Imamoglu is released from prison, there is still the issue of his university diploma being annulled, a move widely perceived as politically motivated to block him from running for president (candidates must hold a university degree).
Ozel told The i Paper that his party had already applied to the administrative court and if that did not work they would keep taking the case to the higher courts.
Aside from the rallies, the CHP has also organised a signature campaign to demand the release of Imamoglu and hold early elections.
Ozel said they aimed for the signature campaign to be the largest no-confidence vote against Erdogan throughout the campaign.
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