On Sunday, the prosecutor in Ankara opened a new investigation against the opposition leader Ozil on charges of “insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other crimes, against the background of the statements that he made after the arrest of municipal mayors of the opposition.
This is the last episode in a series of legal prosecutions aimed at the fact that in March he began seriously with the mayor of Istanbul Akram Imamoglu, which is very popular in the case of corruption in March.
The statement of the State Prosecutor says: “The words that the head of the Republican People’s Party Ozil uttered at the press conference followed by the meeting of the executive committee of the party on July 5, justifies the level of crimes, which include the offensive president (Recep Tayyip Erdogan) and public promotion to commit a crime and insult to government officials.”
It was not clear which of his statements was the reason to open the investigation, but Ozil resolutely condemned the arrest of three municipal leaders of the Republican People’s Party, saying: “We would take his place in history.”
He added: “On the one hand, there are those who protect the surveys, and on the other hand, there are those who surrender to Erdogan and his fears”, calling for respect for the will of voters.
He said: “You extract their right to vote and extract mayors who elected and put the future president in jail”, referring to Imamoglu, the strongest competitors of Erdogan and the candidate at the CHP for the presidential election for 2028.
In November, Erdogan filed a lawsuit against Ozil on charges of “public insulting the president” and “committing a crime against the reputation and honor of the president.”
Another lawsuit was filed against him in February, which was challenged by his election as the head of the Republican People’s Party, against the background of charges of voting at a party conference held in November 2023.
Last month, another investigation was opened against him on charges of insulting the prosecutor Istanbul and the “threats of the judiciary” during the mass assembly.
The messages of local media said that efforts are being made to raise a parliamentary immunity from Ozil in order to encounter a prison in another case, associated with a “insult to a government official”.
