Turkey opposition leader Özgür Özel attacked at Istanbul event, sparking safety concerns

Özgür Özel, leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was slapped by an assailant on Sunday as he was leaving an event in Istanbul. The incident, captured on camera, showed Özel holding his head in pain while the attacker was swiftly apprehended.

Authorities identified the suspect by his initials, S.T., and media reports said he is an unemployed man with a criminal record.

Televised footage showed a white-haired man approaching Ozel outside the Ataturk Cultural Center and striking him in the face with an open hand. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office later confirmed that the attacker had been detained.

Ozel had been attending a memorial for Sirri Sureyya Onder, a prominent pro-Kurdish politician who passed away on Saturday. Despite the shock of the incident, the CHP leader was reported to be unharmed.

The assault has drawn parallels with a 2019 attack on Ozel’s predecessor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who was also assaulted while attending a soldier’s funeral in Ankara province, further stoking concerns about the security environment for opposition politicians in Turkey.

Last month, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan filed a criminal complaint for insulting the president against Ozgur Ozel, who said that the country was “governed by a junta that is afraid of elections”.