There is a fountain in Sivas...

Yesterday, I watched the Sivas rally that took place on Friday, August 22, 2025, and I felt proud. In the middle of Anatolia, in Sivas, such a large crowd gathered for Ekrem İmamoğlu to protest the injustices, lawlessness, and corruption being experienced. The large crowd at the Sivas rally, which was "defending the national will," passed the historic fountain in Cumhuriyet Square, recalling Özgür Özel's remark that "whoever passes the fountain will come to power." The crowd passed the fountain by 50 meters.

We remember Sivas for its positive aspects, with the Sivas Congress that saved our beautiful homeland and Tıbbiyeli Hikmet (Dr. Hikmet Boran).

Ah, that Madımak, Madımak. The Madımak events are also etched in our memory as an event that reminds us of our hatred. The rally and the enthusiasm inevitably brought these two events to mind.

The first is a great historical event where the cornerstones of a fully independent Turkey were laid. It cannot be forgotten. The second has gone down in history as part of a plan to destroy secular Turkey. During my time as a member of parliament, I attended almost all of the events organized to condemn the Madımak events, with a few exceptions. Malatya MP Veli Ağbaba and our colleagues gather at the Madımak Hotel every year on July 2 to condemn the intellectuals burned there and the secular thought that was attempted to be destroyed, and they denounce the tragic events that took place.

33 of our writers, poets, thinkers, and artists were burned to death in Sivas. Aziz Nesin was also among the group of 51 people, mostly Alevi and left-leaning, who were in Sivas for the Pir Sultan Abdal Festival on July 2, 1993.

Aziz Nesin thought he had escaped by climbing down the fire department ladder that approached the window of the Madımak Hotel; however, when he reached the bottom, he was pushed in front of the crowd by someone who said, "the animal to be killed is right here."

A doctor in an ambulance that was there at the time gave him his white coat, saying, "if you wear this coat, they will think you are a doctor and won't recognize you," saving him from being lynched.

This coat is still on display at the Nesin Mathematics Village, along with his soot-stained, burnt, and torn t-shirt.

A doctor does not think about who said what, who did what, or what someone believes. They are not an administrative superior, not a prosecutor, not a religious official, and not a law enforcement officer. A doctor's job is to save lives. A doctor saves.

Tıbbiyeli (Medical Student) Doctor Hikmet made a significant contribution to the founding of the fully independent Republic of Turkey with his stance at the Sivas Congress. Another doctor of ours saved Aziz Nesin from the hands of bigots.

At yesterday's Sivas rally, we heard the footsteps of Turkey's resurgence in the second century. How happy are the people of Sivas. I sincerely congratulate those who organized this rally. I sincerely congratulate my Chairman, Mr. Özgür Özel, in particular, as well as Deputy Chairman Ulaş Karasu, the Provincial Chairman, and their colleagues.

Everything will be very beautiful. Let us march on, friends...