Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou joined a delegation of the Party of European Socialists (PES) to meet with Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel in Ankara on Saturday. The visit, hosted at the CHP headquarters, focused on the increasing judicial and political pressure brought to bear on opposition figures in Turkey, a country of over 80 million people bordering Greece and the Middle East.
Papandreou, who also serves as Honorary President of Socialist International, and the rest of the PES delegation held a joint press conference with Özel. They discussed the judicial actions against Ekrem İmamoğlu, three times elected Mayor of İstanbul, a city with a population of 16 million. Özel accused the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of using the courts to jail elected officials, citing İmamoğlu’s case as an attempt to disrupt local and future national elections. “If you remove your opponent through judicial means, it becomes an international issue,” he warned.
Özel also addressed Turkey’s strained ties with the European Union. He argued that while he himself works to strengthen relations, the government’s actions push Turkey further from EU membership. “I have a needle to dig with, while Erdoğan has a shovel to fill in with,” he said, pointing to cancelled European Parliament visits and dropped meetings at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, an annual foreign policy event. These steps, he said, harm Turkey’s standing in global democracy rankings.
Papandreou expressed support for the efforts of the CHP. “This struggle is between autocracy and democracy,” he said, noting that its effects extend beyond Turkey to Greece and the EU. He praised Özel, İmamoğlu and the Turkish public, promising on behalf of international socialist networks to keep Turkey’s democratic challenges in focus.
Özel highlighted a contrast in Turkey’s policies: abroad, it defends causes like that of Palestine, but it suppresses opposition at home. He urged stronger backing from European social democrats, mentioning the UK’s Labour Party as an example of a group that has responded, after an initial period of silence. He added that the PES visit was a display of solidarity with Turkey’s opposition amid these domestic tensions.
