Ümit Özdağ, chair of the far-right Victory Party (ZP) was referred on Tuesday to a court in Istanbul after his detention on Monday evening in the capital Ankara. Özdağ is accused of insulting the president while media outlets reported on Tuesday that he will also face charges of inciting people to hatred, a more serious offense.
Özdağ was dining at a restaurant when police officers showed up with an arrest warrant as part of an investigation by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul for his remarks at a recent event. Özdağ has claimed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has done more harm to the Turkish nation than the Crusaders, adding to his long list of sharp criticism amounting to insults against the incumbent president.
Details of the other charge against Özdağ were not made public yet but the ZP chairman is known for his harsh rhetoric against migrants and refugees. His anti-migrant party repeatedly targeted refugees from neighboring Syria who fled civil war into Türkiye. ZP’s critics say Özdağ’s discourse fueled anti-refugee sentiment in the country, even leading to riots targeting neighborhoods where refugees and migrants lived.
As he was taken to the police directorate in Istanbul on Monday evening, supporters of ZP gathered outside. They relocated to Istanbul’s main courthouse as Özdağ was brought there on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, representatives of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Good Party (IP) arrived on the premises to demonstrate support for Özdağ. The ZP leader also found an unlikely ally in Geert Wilders, a far-right Dutch politician otherwise known for his anti-Turkish stance, who tweeted “I support Ümit Özdağ.”
Özdağ, an academic, is known for his aggressive “interviews” with migrants and refugees and perpetuated the claims of a “silent invasion” of Türkiye by refugees and migrants from around the world. He rode a wave of popularity amid fluctuating anti-refugee sentiment, which helped the rise of far-rightists in the country blaming their burden on the economy.
He was a former lawmaker from the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). He later joined IP, founded by former MHP politicians, and left that party too in 2021 and went on to form ZP, which proved popular among the social media youth nurturing far-right views. In the 2023 elections, Özdağ endorsed Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, candidate of a six-party opposition bloc against Erdoğan while ZP won 2.2% of the vote in legislative elections where it jointly ran with the Justice Party under the “ATA Alliance.” In last year’s municipal elections, it won only 1.74% of the vote.
