Turkey’s main opposition party has rounded on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a prolonged silence in response to the US military operation that on January 3 captured his longtime ally Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and wife Cilia Flores.

Erdogan, who in the past year has been carefully resetting his “bromance” with American President Donald Trump, failed to comment on the abduction of Maduro throughout the weekend, despite making a televised public appearance.

Republican People’s Party ( HP) chairman Ozgur Ozel said during a rally in remarks directed at Erdogan: “Your friend Trump has arrived – he violates international law, bursts into your brother Maduro’s bedroom with his wife, ties his hands, blindfolds him, and takes him away. How tragic that you now remain silent in the face of this picture?”

Maduro has visited Turkey several times. In January 2019, a month after Erdogan visited Caracas, he was backed by the Turkish leader when Venezuela’s opposition-led National Assembly declared him a usurper following the disputed 2018 presidential election results. At the time, Erdogan called Maduro and told him, “Brother, you should stand firm. We are with you."

In November 2018, Trump signed an executive order authorising new sanctions on Venezuela’s gold sector, in a bid to disrupt trade with Turkey that US officials feared was undermining efforts to economically pressure the Maduro administration. 

The Turkish economy remains crisis-stricken and fragile and Erdogan is aware that getting on the wrong side of Trump could send it into a tailspin – he has experience of such an outcome.

Added Ozel in his comments addressed to Erdogan: “Now that you need to defend the world order, your silence legitimises Trump’s coup against another country. You fear Trump, on whom you feel dependent.”

Following Venezuela’s disputed 2024 elections, Ankara refrained from expressing an opinion on the disputed results that secured Maduro’s re-election, but Erdogan continued to treat the administration in Caracas as an ally of Turkey.

Prior to the US operation to grab Maduro, US Senator Lindsey Graham confirmed Washington had offered the Venezuelan president the option of going into exile in Turkey.

In a statement on January 3, the Turkish foreign ministry did not condemn the abduction of Maduro.

Erdogan finally addressed the matter of Maduro at a press conference held after a cabinet meeting on January 5.

He said he conveyed Ankara's sensitivities to Trump in a phone call, urging that Venezuela should not be abandoned to instability, state-run news service Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkey, he added, would continue to stand by the "friendly people of Venezuela in their struggle for prosperity, peace, and development".

Violating the sovereignty of nations and disregarding international law were risky steps that could lead to "serious global complications," Erdogan also said.