Mesut Özarslan, mayor of Ankara’s Keçiören district for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), announced his resignation from the party on Sunday evening, after disclosing that the party’s chair, Özgür Özel, sent him derogatory messages.
Özarslan, elected to office in the 2024 municipal elections, was long rumored to join the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). His meeting with Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum further triggered the rumors. Özarslan disclosed that it was his meeting with Kurum that led to a defamation campaign by “some cliques” within the CHP against him.
In a lengthy social media post on Sunday, Özarslan said it was common for him to meet government officials to find solutions to Keçiören’s issues, but his Jan. 6 meeting with Kurum fueled “gossip by certain cliques in the party.” “I tried to remain silent in the face of pressure, rumors and defamation, but CHP chair, Mr. Özgür Özel, started sending me WhatsApp messages on Saturday, at 23:59. His messages contained insults, threats and slander contradicting political etiquette and humanity. Does a party chair insult a mayor and his family? Does a party chair have the right to insult by using swear words? I cannot continue serving in the CHP in the face of messages where even my parents are sworn at. I believe I cannot serve as a mayor (for CHP) in the face of those messages. I am not reacting against CHP, its voters. I am reacting only against the current administration, which has lost political etiquette,” he wrote.
“We were committed to serving people when we were nominated and elected, committed to walk together on this path to gain the favor of people and Allah. But at this point, I don’t see that either Özel or his colleagues have any sacred values. I call upon all my friends (in the CHP) to save themselves from this network of immoral people,” he added.
Along with Özarslan, seven members of the Keçiören municipal assembly resigned from the CHP on Sunday, while Deputy Mayor Emir Can Tunç and acting Mayor Tolga Turgut announced their resignation from the post and said they would remain in the CHP.
Several media outlets published unconfirmed screenshots of messages Özel sent to Özarslan, including ones where he called the mayor “b**tard.” Özel, quoted by pro-CHP Halk TV, denied using swear words in the messages, though he acknowledged that he wrote "harsh words."
Özarslan quit the Good Party (IP) in 2023 and joined the CHP, working alongside Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, a former nationalist politician. He is the first CHP mayor this year so far to quit the party, which boosted its vote in the 2024 municipal elections. Last year, Özlem Çerçioğlu, mayor of Aydın province in western Türkiye, resigned from the CHP and joined the AK Party, though she faced a barrage of slander on social media by CHP supporters and was repeatedly targeted in Özel’s speeches.
