The oppressive regime has outdone itself

The government's strategy to silence the opposition is moving forward decisively, directly targeting the right to vote and be elected, which is the cornerstone of democracy.

The operations launched against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality have, in reality, targeted not just local government, but the will of millions of people.

Now, there is an attempt to stifle the voice of this will through various means. The AKP, which has built a world of perception through media created by systematic efforts over more than 20 years, has not been satisfied with that alone. It has designed social media with thousands of trolls, causing the public to be split right down the middle like a watermelon. Ambitious and aggressive hate-mongers have created a major fracture by doing the only thing they know how to do.

The government is now using the judiciary once again to silence dissenting voices.

Even children know that the chain of operations carried out against İmamoğlu is an outright usurpation of the right to vote and be elected.

The attempt to sideline those it cannot defeat at the ballot box through arrests is the final stage in the creation of a terrifying new process that eliminates freedom of communication.

These actions are nothing more than political engineering disguised as law. Those who claim otherwise, those who defend those who turn the law into a tool for the desire for power, and those who try to place these actions on a plane of logic are opportunists.

They are villains who only pursue their own interests.

On one hand, those who build their politics on the rhetoric of the "national will," and on the other, those who either imprison or attempt to discredit the representatives of this very will. The closure of Ekrem İmamoğlu's social media account is a direct intervention against freedom of expression. This is exactly where words fail.

Is it only İmamoğlu? No. Everyone who is in opposition is a target of this vice. Companies are being seized, slanders are being rained down in the media, candidacies are being blocked, journalists are being sentenced, those conducting street interviews are being arrested, and businesspeople are being intimidated.

Now, they want to silence voices completely by shutting down social media accounts. The oppressive regime has outdone itself.

Today, the issue is certainly not just about İmamoğlu... İmamoğlu can be criticized, questioned, and judged... The real issue is to protect the votes of millions. It is about defending justice and rights against those who view democracy as a train, who do not want to relinquish power forever, and who have turned the country into a company from top to bottom.

To defend the homeland, the values of Atatürk, the Republic, education, progressivism, democracy, human rights, freedoms, women, children, and animals...

And to shout the truth...

To shout about how they collaborate with imperial centers under the guise of the pious identity they have assumed. To reveal with full clarity how they serve imperialism. To lay bare their hypocritical games for all to see...

We cannot achieve salvation through betrayal of the law or by adopting a 'live and let live' attitude toward injustice.

The unlawful silencing of elected officials could happen to anyone tomorrow. Remaining silent is to be complicit in injustice.

It must not be forgotten that where the will of the people is usurped, it is not democracy that prevails, but domination.