Murat Özçelik (born 1 January 1954) is a Turkish politician, civil servant and diplomat from the Republican People's Party (CHP), who has served as a Member of Parliament for İstanbul's third electoral district since 7 June 2015.
Reconciliation with the Iraqi Kurds inaugurated a period of economic and political cooperation that is counted among Turkey’s most significant foreign policy wins in the Middle East.
Numerous members of the party council who won a higher number of votes subsequently resigned from their positions in order to allow Özçelik to take a seat, which he did in October 2014.
[8] Pro-status quo Turkish nationalists within the CHP were uneasy with Özçelik’s foreign policy activism in urging reconciliation with Iraqi Kurds.
He was targeted by allegations launched by hawkish CHP nationalists that claimed he sympathised with the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
In an attempt to discredit his credibility within the CHP, far-right Turkish media claimed that he, his family and his friends voted for the HDP in the June 2015 general election.