Opposition leader Özgür Özel to visit Palestine next month
THE CHAIRPERSON of Türkiye’s main opposition party is heading to Palestine next month to make what he said would be an “important” call to the world and Türkiye amid Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chair Özgür Özel yesterday announced he would lead a party delegation on a trip to Ramallah on April 15, where he would meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as the relatives of Palestinians killed or injured in Gaza.
Özel has previously called on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to go to Palestine with the leaders of all political parties to demonstrate Turkish solidarity for the Palestinians after Israel launched a deadly offensive on Gaza in retaliation to a Hamas incursion on its southern territory on Oct. 7.
The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed nearly 29,092 and injured about 69,028, with mass destruction and a worsening humanitarian crisis. It has pushed 85% of the territory’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
The CHP chair also said he was in talks with social democrat parties around the world to develop a joint pro-peace stance over the ongoing crisis.
Ankara has been a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause and Erdoğan’s government continues diplomatic and legal efforts to resolve the conflict, including direct talks with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders and Hamas officials.
Erdoğan and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi also discussed the crisis in Gaza, as well as the terms of delivering humanitarian aid and evacuating Palestinian patients to Türkiye, during a landmark visit to Cairo last week. The two countries’ health ministries have been working in tandem to transport aid supplies through the Rafah border crossing.
Turkish public’s outrage too 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 Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (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.”
While acknowledging criticism of the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Palestine as “entirely natural,” Yücel argued that the CHP disapproves of protests where CocaCola is poured down the street or local coffee is served instead of boycotted brands like Starbucks, something protestors did not just in Türkiye but around the world, as well.
Notably, in October, the youth branch of the AK Party simultaneously launched a 30-minute sit-in strike at Starbucks branches across Türkiye for a campaign entitled “Say Stop.” The party members donning scarves with colors of the Palestinian flag quietly sat at Starbucks stores in protest of what they called the American coffee chain’s support for Israel.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a global campaign aimed at causing economic damage to Israel, has since gained global momentum in solidarity with Palestinians.