Ümit Özdağ

On 24 June 2026, Özdağ was convicted in the Şeyh Said case; the 87-day sentence was converted into a fine of 8,700 TL, and pronouncement of the judgment was suspended (HAGB).

State of the evidence

Documented

Arrested in January 2025, Özdağ was sentenced on 17 June 2025 to two years and four months for publicly inciting hatred, then released in view of the time already spent in detention.

State of the evidence

Established by a court

Özdağ was tried separately over remarks comparing the damage attributed to Erdoğan and the AKP with that caused by the Crusades. He was acquitted on 24 December 2025.

Course of the proceedings

1. Formally charged — Formal charge before the current outcome

Prosecuted for naming two MİT agents killed in Libya in 2020, Özdağ was acquitted on 8 July 2025 because the legal elements of the offence were not established.

Course of the proceedings

1. Formally charged — Formal charge before the current outcome

Özdağ was tried over remarks targeting former minister İdris Naim Şahin and acquitted on 8 July 2025.

Course of the proceedings

1. Formally charged — Formal charge before the current outcome

Özdağ was prosecuted over hostile remarks targeting Ali Kenanoğlu on social media and acquitted in July 2025.

Course of the proceedings

1. Formally charged — Formal charge before the current outcome

Following the February 2023 earthquakes, Özdağ circulated information about the alleged theft of a firefighter's telephone. He was tried for "iftira" [false accusation] and acquitted.

Course of the proceedings

1. Formally charged — Formal charge before the current outcome

In Adıyaman following the February 2023 earthquakes, Özdağ and AKP MP Aziz Babuşçu had a filmed confrontation over Özdağ's anti-Syrian remarks and the political handling of the disaster.

State of the evidence

Documented

Özdağ acknowledged financing and approving the script of the dystopian short film Silent Invasion, which became the subject of a national controversy over xenophobia and anti-refugee rhetoric.

State of the evidence

Documented

The war of words between Özdağ and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu escalated into a public confrontation in the context of Özdağ's anti-refugee campaign.

State of the evidence

Documented

Özdağ was expelled from İYİ Parti on 16 November 2020 after making allegations of links to FETÖ against provincial official Buğra Kavuncu. On 13 January 2021, an Ankara court definitively overturned the expulsion because of procedural irregularities and insufficient reasoning.

On 15 November 2016, the MHP disciplinary board unanimously expelled Ümit Özdağ, then an MP for Gaziantep and an internal opponent of Devlet Bahçeli, particularly in the context of the debate over the presidential system.

State of the evidence

Documented

After announcing his candidacy for the MHP leadership against Devlet Bahçeli, Özdağ was referred for disciplinary proceedings and expelled from the party in November 2006. His court applications to suspend the procedure had been dismissed.

State of the evidence

Documented