President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday criticized the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) over riots it incited and boycotts after the arrest of the party’s Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoğlu.
“Marginal groups acting as ‘Blackshirts’ of the opposition threaten local businesses,” Erdoğan said, referring to a Mussolini-era fascist group in Italy.
“What has surfaced so far is a harbinger of what will come. You cannot prevent justice from prevailing,” Erdoğan told an event of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the capital Ankara. He was repeating his earlier remarks that branded pro-CHP riots as an attempt to divert attention from the corruption investigation into the mayor, as well as into allegations that the CHP’s current chair, Özgür Özel, bought votes in an intraparty election in November 2023.
The CHP gathered crowds in Istanbul for days after Imamoğlu was detained on March 19. The “Saraçhane rallies,” named after the quarter where Istanbul municipality hall is located, soon triggered riots mainly involving the youth attacking police. The rallies were paused and are expected to resume on Wednesday, this time in the district of Şişli.
Encouraged by the support, Özel, a proponent of early elections, launched a boycott of brands he accused of supporting the government. His boycott call drew the ire of the government, which branded it as an attempt to derail the economy by targeting local businesses.
Erdoğan reiterated his opposition to the CHP-led riots and said the opposition chose to call people to the streets, though legitimate ways were available. “The CHP acts like a marginal group. In the past three weeks, Türkiye saw the true fascist face of the CHP. The rallies evolved into an all-out attack because of the rhetoric of the CHP chairperson. Local businesses were added to lynch lists and the main opposition directed marginal groups to threaten and harass those businesses with its discourse,” Erdoğan added.
The president stated that Özel preferred to attempt to thwart the corruption investigation instead of acting responsibly. “They tried to defame state institutions like the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), wagging fingers at judiciary members and tried to cover up wrongdoings of criminal organizations targeting Istanbul,” he said.
Erdoğan also said the investigation into Imamoğlu and others was simply an investigation for those who “should be held accountable for stealing from people.”
“The CHP is aware of widespread corruption and knows it is only the tip of the iceberg. They know very well how Istanbul was pillaged and who benefited from it. They know whom this criminal organization extorted from. They are in panic,” he said.
He added that it was the task of the judiciary to “break the hands stealing public property.”
He said Özel brought shame to the CHP by complaining about his own country to foreigners, referring to the former’s call for other countries to stand in support of the opposition party against the arrest of Imamoğlu.
“What we have witnessed in the last three weeks has reminded us that today’s CHP is no different from the CHP of the 1940s. We have seen that there has been no change in the CHP’s fascist mentality,” Erdoğan said, referring iron-fisted regime led by the CHP after the death of the party’s founder and first president of the Republic of Türkiye, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
“They have not changed at all; they could never accept the sovereignty of the national will. They have never truly embraced free elections or democracy. They have always played games and engaged in deception. Look at the fascism they practice, just imagine what they would do if they gained a little more power. In just three weeks, they have reminded us of the mentality our ancestors had to struggle against during the single-party era. May God never leave our nation at the mercy of these people,” he said.
Erdoğan was accused of running a junta by Özel and in response, government officials highlighted the fact of the multiple democratic election victories of Erdoğan and the AK Party, while pointing out the CHP’s past as a party supporting a military coup in 1960.