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The Turkish main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel declared U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack "persona non grata" on Friday, saying his remarks at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum were "brazen impertinence."
He demanded that Barrack retract his words and apologize, or immediately cease serving in the role.
Ozel responded directly to Barrack's Antalya Forum remarks in which the ambassador said the only thing that had worked in the Middle East was "powerful leadership regimes, either benevolent monarchies or monarchical republic-type structures" and that countries that "put on the cloak of democracy or that we pursued for human rights have failed."
"In Antalya, which Ataturk called the world's most beautiful city, in the country that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded, which rejected monarchy after the War of Independence and brought democracy, coming here and criticizing democracy while praising monarchy is brazen impertinence," Ozel said.
"From this moment on, Tom Barrack is an unwanted person, an unwanted man, a persona non grata for Turkish democracy," he added.
"And from this moment on, we declare Tom Barrack an unwanted person in the Republic of Türkiye. He can neither represent the U.S. here nor should he serve in this role on this soil for one more minute, not until he retracts these words and apologizes to the Republic of Türkiye and to everyone living in this country," the leader of the Turkish main opposition said.
At the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Friday, Barrack stated, "If you looked at the region, and again, I'll be criticized for saying this because it's anti-democratic, the only thing that's worked, the only thing, are these powerful leadership regimes: either benevolent monarchies, the kind of monarchical republic."
"Everything else, this Arab Spring, just faded away and evaporated. Countries that have put on this cloak of democracy, or that we've gone after for human rights, have failed," he added.
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