Far-right Turkish politician goes on trial accused of inciting hatred

Euronews

a day ago

A far-right Turkish politician accused of inciting public hatred and hostility went on trial on Wednesday in a case critics view as an effort to suppress opposition to the president.
Ümit Özdağ, the leader of the Victory Party, was detained in January over accusations he insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in comments at a party meeting in Antalya.
Özdağ was then formally arrested and charged with inciting hatred against migrants.
He was blamed for last year's anti-Syrian refugee riots in the central Turkish province of Kayseri, during which hundreds of homes and businesses were attacked.
Prosecutors have presented a series of posts from Özdağ's social media as evidence against him. He faces up to four years in prison if found guilty.
Meanwhile, the court in Silivri ruled that Özdağ should remain in detention until his next hearing on 17 June.
Özdağ, a 64-year-old former academic, is an outspoken critic of Turkey's refugee policies and has previously called for the repatriation of millions of Syrian refugees.
Özdağ acknowledged advocating the return of refugees at the opening hearing of his trial at a prison complex on the outskirts of Istanbul.
He denied he had incited violence against them and told the court he had worked to calm tensions in Kayseri.
In his defence statement, Özdağ maintained that his imprisonment was politically motivated and aimed at silencing him over his criticism of the government's recent effort to end a decades-long conflict with the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
"The reason why I am here ... is because I criticised the talks held with the PKK terrorist organisation's chief," Özdağ said.
The Victory Party strongly opposes any concessions to the PKK which Turkey, along with many Western states including the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, considers a terrorist organisation.
The conflict with the PKK has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths since the 1980s.
When the trial opened on Wednesday, Özdağ's lawyers requested more time to prepare and the proceedings were adjourned until next Tuesday.
The politician's trial comes amid a widespread crackdown on the opposition to Erdoğan's Justice and Development or AK party.
Officials from municipalities controlled by the main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), have faced waves of arrests this year.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained in March over allegations of corruption.
İmamoğlu was due in court on Thursday morning to face charges of attempting to influence a witness and attempting to interfere with a trial, but neither he nor his lawyers attended the session.
The court rescheduled the trial date for 26 September.
Many people in Turkey consider those cases to be politically motivated, according to opinion polls.
However, Erdoğan's government insists the courts are impartial and free from political involvement.
İmamoğlu is widely viewed as the main challenger to Erdoğan's two-decade rule and is the CHP's candidate for the next presidential election.
The election is due in 2028 but could be held earlier.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said the number of people forcibly displaced by violence and persecution around the world rose to more than 123 million by the end of 2024 — an increase of around 2 million from the previous year.
UNHCR said figures recorded at the end of last year show that displacement has almost doubled over the past decade.
The report comes at a time when humanitarian groups are facing budget cuts from the United States and other traditional Western donors.
UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi, however, highlighted what he called 'rays of hope' in recent months, noting that nearly two million Syrians have returned home as the country begins to emerge from more than a decade of civil war.
The findings were released alongside the UN refugee agency's Global Trends Report on Thursday, which estimated that by the end of April 2025, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide had likely fallen slightly — down 1% to 122.1 million — marking the first decline in more than a decade.
Among those figures, the number of internally displaced people jumped by more than 9% to 73.5 million at the end of last year.
The numbers represent cumulative figures from years of conflict, violence, and persecution — and include people who returned home last year, even as others fled.
UNHCR said nearly two-thirds of people who crossed national borders to flee remained in neighbouring countries, countering the "widespread perception in wealthier regions" that a majority of people were fleeing in a bid to reach places like Europe or the United States.
The agency said Sudan, torn by civil war, is now the site of the world's largest displacement crisis, with more than 14 million people uprooted — surpassing Syria's 13.5 million.
Many of those fleeing the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have fled to neighbouring countries like South Sudan, Chad and Egypt.
In Afghanistan, more than 10 million people have been forcibly displaced. While active fighting has largely ceased, the UNHCR notes that widespread poverty and hunger persist, and some countries have implemented policies to deport undocumented migrants, including Afghan nationals.
The report also notes that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues to drive large-scale displacement.
Some 8.8 million Ukrainians have been displaced by the fighting, 3.7 million internally and 5.1 million who have sought refuge in other countries.