Statements by Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu in an interview with CNN International angered Turkish social media users and critics of the mayor from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Answering a question on the Palestine-Israel conflict, Imamoğlu criticized Israel’s attacks in Gaza but added that Hamas carried out a "terrorist attack," opposing the government’s pro-Palestine rhetoric.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan staunchly rejects labeling Hamas as a terrorist group and often compares it to Turkish “National Forces” that fought in the War of Independence against occupiers more than a century ago.
Imamoğlu’s statement is not very different from the CHP’s stance on Hamas, whose leaders are often hosted by President Erdoğan.
Social media users decried Imamoğlu’s remarks and accused him of hypocrisy, noting a humanitarian aid campaign by the Istanbul municipality just before the March 31 elections for Palestinians. They accused him of a PR stunt prior to the elections in the country, where thousands took to the streets for weeks to support the Palestinian cause since Oct. 7.
Osman Nuri Kabaktepe, head of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) branch in Istanbul, said in a social media post that nobody had the right to portray the struggle of “a father whose child and wife were massacred” as illegitimate.
Kabaktepe said political leaders abroad pressed by the Jewish lobby declared Hamas a terrorist group and that this was echoed by a “rookie” opposition leader earlier, referring Özgür Özel who was elected as CHP chair last November and spoke disparagingly on Hamas along the lines of Imamoğlu’s statements.
The Turkish public's outrage has been intense since Oct. 7, with mass protests nationwide condemning Israel's relentless attacks, calling for a permanent cease-fire and public agencies, municipalities, universities and even Parliament taking part in a boycott of goods of Israeli origin. But Özel's party earlier played down boycott calls and protests, accusing the AK Party of using the Palestinian cause as "propaganda" for the upcoming local elections. When asked whether the CHP had a plan of action to express its criticism of Israel, spokesperson Deniz Yücel claimed in a November interview it would "not be right for a nation or a political party to encourage these kinds of protests."
