Özel vows to revive hazelnut sector in CHP rule

ORDU

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel pledged on Nov. 8 to support hazelnut production and bolster the economy of Türkiye's northeastern Black Sea region if his main opposition party wins power.

"I promise, we will revive both hazelnut [producers] and Ordu under our rule,” Özel told a rally in the coastal province that sits at the heart of the country’s hazelnut belt. He later visited a hazelnut-processing factory in the city and spoke with female workers.

The rally came as global scrutiny has focused on the sector after a Financial Times report said Ferrero, the Italian maker of Nutella, has held off purchases as Türkiye's harvest declined sharply this year.

“We don't recognize any global giants here. The global giants in hazelnuts are Ordu, Giresun... the Black Sea region,” Özel said at the rally. “Hazelnuts are not just the economy of the producers, but of all of Ordu.”

Türkiye supplies the lion’s share of the world’s hazelnuts, as estimates place roughly two-thirds of global output in the country, much of it produced in the mountain range along the Black Sea coast. The sector has a centuries-long history of exporting to Europe and beyond.

The CHP has staged a string of rallies focused on different social and economic complaints, from unpaid or unassigned teachers to retirees and tea producers, and Özel cast the Ordu gathering as another step in what he called the party’s broadened “march to power.”

"I'm telling all citizens in all 81 provinces. If you complain about your salary, if you complain about the price of meat, the price of cheese, if even a cup of tea and a simit have become a luxury, then you have to put down that remote. You have to take off those pajamas," he said.

"Wherever you are called, you have to run. You should not leave the squares or the streets empty. You will fight, and that is how we will win."