Turkish politician (born 1974)
Özgür Özel (born 21 September 1974) is a Turkish pharmacist and politician who serves as the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP). He had shared the parliamentary deputy group leadership of the CHP with Engin Altay and Levent Gök between the years 2015 and 2023. He has been an MP for the electoral district of Manisa since the 2011 general election and is well known for his activism concerning the rights of miners in Manisa Province.
Since 25 February 2024, Özel has served as vice president of the Socialist International.
Early life and career.
Education.
Özgür Özel was born in Manisa on 21 September 1974. He comes from a Balkan Turkish family originating from Skopje, North Macedonia and Thessaloniki, Greece and completed his primary education there. After completing his secondary education, he started college at İzmir Bornova Anatolian High School but returned to Manisa to complete high school. He graduated from Ege University Faculty of Pharmacy.
Pharmacist.
After graduating from university, Özel worked in an independent pharmacy practice from 1999. He served as the Secretary-General of the Manisa Chamber of Pharmacists between 2001 and 2007 and held the position of Chamber President for two terms. He also took on the roles of Spokesperson and President in the Manisa Academic Associations Union during the same years. 
Starting in 2007, he has served as an executive board member, accountant and two-term General Secretary for the Turkish Pharmacists Association, having made numerous statements and presentations in 163 different congresses and conferences. Özel is also a member of the International Pharmacists Federation, the European Union Pharmacists Group and the European Pharmacists Forum. 
Between 2007 and 2011, he served as the treasurer of the Turkish Pharmacists' Association for one term and held the position of Secretary-General for two terms.
Early political career.
Republican People's Party.
Özel was elected as a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Manisa in the 2011 general election and was re-elected in June 2015 and November 2015. He was elected to the CHP party council in the party's 18th Extraordinary Convention held in September 2014. At the start of the short-lived 25th Parliament on 24 June 2015, he was elected as a CHP parliamentary deputy group leader and was re-elected at the start of the 26th Parliament in November 2015, where he served alongside Engin Altay and Levent Gök. He took on important responsibilities as an MP, including roles in the Health, Family, Labor, and Social Affairs Committee, the CHP Prisons Monitoring and Inspection Committee, the CHP Universities and Student Issues Research Committee and the Parliamentary Soma Mine Research Committee.
In 2015, Özel was awarded the Uğur Mumcu Politician of the Year Award by the Atatürkist Thought Association and the Contemporary Journalists Association.
In the 25th, 26th, and 27th legislative terms, he served as the Deputy Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) Parliamentary Group, overseeing the CHP's work in the Parliament. He served as the Chairman of the CHP Parliamentary Group between 2015 and 2023.
Soma mine disaster.
Özel, along with other CHP MPs from Manisa, made worldwide headlines following the Soma mine disaster in May 2014, where 301 miners were killed after coal mine collapsed in Soma, Manisa Province. The disaster caused large-scale criticism of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, since it had rejected a parliamentary motion that Özel had put forward to investigate mining incidents in Soma and other mining towns just two months before the disaster. His speeches before and after the disaster received nationwide attention.
CHP leadership candidacy.
In 2023 Özel ran for party leadership at the 38th Republican People's Party Ordinary Convention. Özel criticized Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for stifling internal democracy and said that the party's leader should be elected democratically. He also objected to Kılıçdaroğlu's analogy of "delivering the party to a safe harbor", asking "Who dragged that ship [CHP] into dangerous waters?" Kılıçdaroğlu's ticket sharing deal to elect 36 deputies from minor parties aligned with the CHP was also severely criticized. In the second round of the CHP congress held on 5 November 2023, Özel was elected the new leader of the CHP.
Leader of the Republican People's Party.
His first electoral test as leader came in the 2024 Turkish local elections, where the results were described as a "spectacular upset" victory for the opposition CHP, which despite the lack of any electoral pacts managed to retain all but one of its metropolitan mayoralties, while winning four more. In particular, the party's candidates in Turkey's largest city Istanbul and capital Ankara, Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, were re-elected by landslide 51% and 60%, respectively. Both mayors also won majorities in their respective metropolitan councils. The CHP also won many unexpected victories in areas that had been under AKP control for the previous two decades, including Bursa, Balıkesir, Manisa, Kütahya, Adıyaman, Amasya, Kırıkkale, Kilis and Denizli. The party also managed to win swathes of districts within many provinces, many of which delivered vote swings of over 30% in the CHP's favor. Overall, the CHP won 35 of Turkey's 81 provincial capitals, with the People's Alliance winning 32. This was the first nationwide election since 1977 where the CHP came first in the popular vote.
Personal life.
Özel is married to Didem Özel, and has a daughter. He speaks Turkish, German and English. He supports Fenerbahçe.
References.
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