Breaking News... CHP sets off from Samsun: Özgür Özel announces the number of signatures collected for İmamoğlu!

The CHP is holding its "Defending the National Will" rally at Samsun Republic Square.

During the rally, a letter sent by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor and CHP's Presidential Candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu,who is currently detained in Silivri Prison, was read to the crowd.

"Beautiful people of Samsun, the city of Atatürk and the youth, my precious and dear fellow citizens, I greet you all with respect and love.

Samsun is the symbol of setting out by trusting in the nation. Those who step into Samsun for a great and righteous cause will surely succeed. Samsun does not let down those who trust it. It did not let us down in 1919, and it will not do so again. Those who set out to establish the sovereignty of the nation will succeed once more. Today, our country is experiencing the collapse of a system based on the rule of one man. It is a system that produces injustice from top to bottom.

"WE ARE SETTING OUT ON THIS PATH FOR EITHER JUSTICE OR CAPTIVITY"

There is no justice in income distribution, no justice in education, no justice in healthcare, and no justice in access to state resources. No one believes anymore that justice is served in the courts. As a nation, we are trying to hold onto life in the grip of injustice. A century ago, a great awakening began on these lands with the cry of 'either independence or death.' We are setting out on this path for either justice or captivity. We will continue this struggle with labor, unity, determination, and love, by looking out for one another, and by standing up for our families, our nation, and our young people whom they have unjustly imprisoned.

You will show how honorable, powerful, and patriotic the Samsun that started the march to liberation a century ago is, just as you are doing here today, in the squares, on the streets, and at the ballot boxes. They will not be able to imprison us in hopelessness or despair. They will not be able to imprison us in poverty or inequality. Now, while we gather in the squares to continue striking fear into the hearts of the wicked with our words and our strength, we will also launch a great march to power.

"NO POWER CAN STAND AGAINST A CHANGE WHOSE TIME HAS COME"

This is not the march to power of a single person or a single party. This march is the march of the true children of these lands, the march of the nation. Our goal is the government of brotherhood, unity, and equality. Our goal is the government of justice, justice. We do not want justice for ourselves, but for everyone. My dear fellow citizens, no power can stand against a change whose time has come.

"WE WILL MAKE THE HEAVENS AND EARTH TREMBLE!"

No one can stop the march of the nation. As long as we walk toward the goal with determination and courage that grows step by step. We will reach the goal not by running, but by walking step by step, but with every step, we will make the heavens and earth tremble, the heavens and earth!

SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN

The current step in our struggle for democracy and justice is to teach those who attempt to ignore the national will a lesson with the nation's signatures. With the signature campaign of those who say, 'I want my candidate by my side and my ballot box in front of me,' we will teach a democracy lesson as a nation to those who deem this oppression worthy of us. We say: hold elections immediately and let all candidates compete freely.

"THE DUTY IS YOURS!"

When we place the signatures of tens of millions of citizens before them, they will not be able to escape the ballot box or the nation. The duty is yours! The duty is in Samsun! It is in the brave youth of the Black Sea, the legacy of Atatürk! Let there be no one around you whose signature you have not collected. Collect signatures house by house, shop by shop, street by street. Show our nation how a smiling face, sharing, and a love for Turkey can unite us in these difficult days. I, too, am at my post in my cell in Silivri. My cell is illuminated by your struggle and the light of the beautiful days at the end of this road. I know we will succeed! We will succeed together! Together, we will establish the government of justice.

May our path be clear! Everything will be very beautiful. Stay in good health."

Following the reading of İmamoğlu's letter, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel took the stage and began his speech.

We are holding our "Defending the National Will" rally at Samsun Republic Square. https://t.co/z2UcmZZMK8

— Özgür Özel (@eczozgurozel) April 13, 2025

Highlights from Özel's statements are as follows:

"Exactly 106 years ago, on May 19, right here, a steamship anchored off the Tobacco Pier in Samsun. That ship, which set out from Istanbul, had struggled and fought against the waves of the Black Sea for four days to reach Samsun. The person who first welcomed that ship on behalf of Anatolia and Samsun, approached it, boarded it, and said to Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 'Welcome, I am at your command,' was Major Mahmut Ekrem.

"THE FIRST STEP BEFITS SAMSUN!"

It was Ekrem who welcomed Gazi Pasha for the War of Independence that day. Today, on this day when we will start the march of our liberation and take the first step, hundreds of thousands are welcoming Mayor Ekrem in Samsun. Hundreds of thousands! That day, one Ekrem welcomed Mustafa Kemal on behalf of us all.

Today, we are all welcoming an Ekrem. Because while one Ekrem is in prison, millions of Ekrems are in the squares! I bring you the greetings of Ekrem İmamoğlu, who said, 'The beginning befits Samsun. The first step befits Samsun,' during our meetings where we decided to hold the first rally in Samsun. I also bring the greetings of Dilek Hanım, Dilek İmamoğlu, who set out with the faith and determination to be with us here today but remained in Istanbul due to various developments, and the greetings of our Mayor Ekrem's children, Beren, Semih, and Selim, who are entrusted to us all.

"WE DO NOT DRAW OUR STRENGTH FROM TRUMP, BUT FROM THE NATION!"

Whoever has tried to do something against the will of the nation has always met with frustration. Today, those who do not draw their strength from the nation, those who wink not at the nation but across the ocean, at other countries, other continents, and other leaders, are doomed to lose. We do not lean our backs on America, but on the nation! We do not draw our strength from Trump, but from the nation! Yesterday, there were those who sent red letters to those coming to occupy; today, there are those who seek permission from abroad to stage a coup. Yesterday, there were those who broke away from the people they betrayed and fled on a British warship; today, there are those who fear the national will and flee from the ballot box.

"WE ARE REBELLING AGAINST THE JUNTA!"

And yesterday, there were those who resisted against the seven powers; today, there is Saraçhane rebelling, Maltepe rebelling, millions pouring into the streets in 81 provinces, and heroes taking the first step in Samsun. Together, all together, we are rebelling against this order, this one-man order, this junta! We are rebelling! We are rebelling! Mr. Erdoğan, I am in Republic Square in Samsun.

CHALLENGED ERDOĞAN: THE NATION IS CALLING YOU TO THE BALLOT BOX, ARE YOU IN?

The area you surrounded was not enough; we overflowed, we are holding rallies in the neighboring squares. Samsun is roaring! It is inviting you to something. Are you in? Are you in for the ballot box? Do not be afraid! Do not be afraid! Those who fear the nation will not prosper. The nation is calling you to the ballot box! It is calling you to the ballot box! The nation is taking the first step toward early elections here in Samsun again.

"ERDOĞAN NEVER SLEEPS"

The nation wants the ballot box. The nation no longer wants an autocrat who leaves retirees hungry, makes minimum wage earners suffer, leaves young people unemployed, extinguishes the future hopes of the youth, and when he realizes he cannot win the election, descends from the democratic resistance he came from, and flees from the ballot box, fearing it! The nation, the democrats want elections, elections! Dear Samsun residents, dear Samsun residents, ever since I named what this Erdoğan is doing, he never, ever sleeps.

I said he is a coup plotter, a member of a junta. He constantly objects to this. There are two types of coups in the world. One is a military coup, the other is a civil coup. Both have a plan and a junta at the head. What Turkey faced on March 19 is a civil coup, and the headquarters of the junta behind this coup is the palace. Its weapon is the judiciary, its ammunition and bullets are lies and slander.

This time, the junta did not come in camouflage, but by wearing the robes of prosecutors, chief prosecutors, and judges. Those who came to power through elections do not want to leave through elections. This is called a coup. Greetings to the 10 millions who repelled this coup! Those who resisted for 7 nights in Saraçhane, those who overflowed from the streets in 81 provinces, those who broke the record of that square with 2.2 million in Maltepe, and the 15.5 million people who flowed like a flood to the solidarity ballot boxes have repelled this coup attempt.

They came, they chose, they went down in history! I embrace each and every one of you! Greetings to you all! Greetings to you all! Now, the junta before us is a small minority within the state and government. They are neither the nation nor the state as they try to portray themselves. They do not represent the nation or the state. They have come out speaking with the tongues of FETÖ members, saying, 'We are the state, there is a state mind.' Yet, who do you think you are to try to replace the Republic of Turkey? You are nothing but a handful of ambitious junta members! Whereas we are the nation, we are righteous, we are strong, and we will win! A handful of junta members cannot stand against the enthusiasm of this nation.

"ERDOĞAN, WHO SITS AT TRUMP'S TABLE..."

We will save the Republic of Turkey from this junta, from this government that manages the state like a criminal organization, at the very first ballot box, at the very first! I ask those who staged this coup: at whose table did you grow up? Did you not drink that tarhana soup from the hands of the nation? Did you not grow up with what the nation provided? Why did you betray our nation that set that table now? How did you call those who carry the Turkish flag terrorists? How did you take the beautiful children of this nation and lock them up? You kept them away from their mothers, fathers, and siblings during the holidays.

I ask Erdoğan, who left the nation's table and sat at Trump's table. This nation will hold you accountable for this! This nation will not let this go unpunished! The target of the journalists is not just the opposition, the main opposition. They want to liquidate politics in Turkey. They no longer have the support of the nation behind them. That is why they are trying to establish a system where they will not need the nation. It is not just the CHP, not just the opposition parties; those who engage in politics in the AK Party and MHP, their politics are also under threat, although I do not know how aware they are of this yet. If this junta succeeds, it will liquidate democratic politics.

The entire bureaucratic system that defends the state's tradition will disappear, this regime based on the national will will go, and they want to make it look like there is democracy with elections where the results are predetermined, the opponents are predetermined, the participation rate is low, and the vote rate is very high, like in Russia. These lands, in this country that they founded with the blood of martyrs who watered the soil with millions of martyrs all over Turkey, when Mustafa Kemal was offered the sultanate, when he was offered the kingdom, when he was offered an eternal presidency without elections, he cast them aside and insisted on parliament, insisted on democracy.

Our goal, our goal is a strong parliament, a strengthened parliamentary system, separation of powers, and a system where the president and the prime minister are separate, respectful of each other, and both bow before the nation; we will establish this together with our Mayor Ekrem, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, as soon as possible. AK Party politicians who draw their strength from the ballot box, MHP politicians who owe their strength, position, and status to the ballot box, this coup attempt is not against us, but against all of us. This coup attempt is against democracy, this coup attempt is against the nation's right to choose and your right to be elected. The whole world is slowly beginning to understand and feel that Erdoğan does not want elections from now on. Do not be afraid! Even if he takes refuge in Trump, even if he gets Putin's support, against him are the children of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who resisted the occupation of all 7 states and imperialist occupation all by himself and succeeded! There are his children! There are his children!

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who took the title of president in the election he entered, who set a trap for the president after him, our presidential candidate, on March 19, who tried to stage a coup and became the head of the junta, is now the junta president! And those who do not draw their authority from the nation from his ink, the so-called ministers who are poured onto paper from the ink of his fountain pen. A minister exists in democracies. A minister receives votes from the nation and looks into the eyes of the nation.

"YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE SLAP OF DEMOCRACY, YOU WILL RECEIVE IT AGAIN!"

He does what the nation wants, but one who waits for instructions from the president even when sending a fire truck to a forest fire, one who looks into his eyes instead of the nation's, cannot be a minister. These are all secretaries, like the secretaries Trump appointed instead of ministers, but I tell these secretaries: 1 year ago, in the March 31 elections, 17 of you became one, you all went together with your president. You all stood against our Mayor Ekrem in Istanbul, and you received the slap of democracy. You will receive it again! The essence of our state tradition is justice. I would like to express to all of Turkey from here that we know what Fatih Sultan Mehmet, who said, 'If you buy the judge, justice dies. If justice dies, the state dies,' and what Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said, 'If there is no justice in the country, there is nothing but anarchy there, there is no government,' said; if you remove justice from the state, all that remains is a gang; a structure that uses weapons, deprives people of their freedom, collects money, but serves others instead of the nation is not a democratic state, it is the gang of the junta.

They arrested Mayor Ekrem and his friends with lies and slander. 3 years ago, they said there were 550 terrorists in the İBB and opened an investigation, do you remember? Those investigations, those trials ended, and not even a single terrorist was found in the İBB. They asked Süleyman Soylu, who told this lie that day.

Today, Mr. Süleyman, Mr. Süleyman, you are quite loved in the Black Sea, huh. Friends, I do not let anyone be booed at rally squares, not even Mr. Süleyman. I am having one person booed. You know the Çatalca Mufti who said the most disgusting things about Volkan Konak when he passed away, yes, boo that dishonorable person, boo him! Let's come to Mr. Süleyman.

"MR. SÜLEYMAN, MAY A POLITICIAN LIKE YOU CEASE TO EXIST"

They said to Süleyman Soylu: 'You said there are 550 terrorists in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.' They were all cleared, they are all at their posts. Where did you say this from? Prove it. The court asked, the nation is asking. Do you know what he said? 'I said it politically, I was doing politics,' he said. Mr. Süleyman, may such politics sink to the ground! May a politician like you cease to exist! Shame on you! I am complaining about this Süleyman Soylu to my AK Party-supporting aunts from Trabzon. To my AK Party-supporting aunts from Trabzon! If someone called your child a terrorist for the sake of politics, if the police took them away, if they lost their job, and years later when you explained your trouble, if they asked and you said, 'I was doing politics,' what would you do?

My aunt from Trabzon, hit this Süleyman Soylu with your slipper now! Hit him with the slipper! Hit him with the slipper! Another truth we must remember today is that this Ekrem İmamoğlu is your child. In 2019, he defeated Tayyip Erdoğan's last appointed prime minister, the parliament speaker of that day, Binali Yıldırım, by a margin of 13,000 votes. He had received his certificate of election. They could not digest it, they repeated the elections. While doing so, they said: 'There are 43 FETÖ-member ballot box officials at the ballot boxes, they stole our votes.'

After that day, after that day, those 43 people were brought in and interrogated. Not a single FETÖ member, not even a single error in a vote was found in their ballot boxes. What did they do? They lied again, they supposedly did politics. This dirty politics that says every path is permissible to win, that steals, plunders, lies, and slanders will sink to the bottom of the earth! It will sink to the bottom of the earth! During the AKP era, 37 corruption files emerged in Istanbul and 97 in Ankara. While these files were being handed over to the prosecutor's office, Süleyman Soylu came and seized them.

SECRET WITNESSES IN İBB INVESTIGATIONS

Since that day, not a single person in any of these files has been called to testify, no investigation has been opened, no one has been held accountable. Those who covered up the major corruption during their own term sent 300 inspectors to Mayor Ekrem constantly for 5 years, and they could not find a single scrap of corruption. Today, there is absolutely no evidence, proof, or real witness in that file to support the slander they are telling. What is there? Only secret witnesses. There is no witness other than three pieces of wood named Meşe (Oak), Ladin (Spruce), and Çınar (Plane tree).

They have made witnesses out of those who ran these affairs during their own term and ran away when it came to the tenders that Mr. Ekrem published transparently, and they made them slander. They want to remove Ekrem İmamoğlu, your child, our comrade, from their path with secret witnesses whose criminal records are full of over 100 crimes, from violence against women to harassment, rape, and all kinds of financial crimes. We will not allow them!

Mayor Ekrem and his friends, Mayor Ekrem and his friends will get out of there, they will come, and 100 years later, they will save Turkey once again, starting from Samsun, we promise! Today, there are not only Republican People's Party members in Silivri. The Chairman of the Victory Party, Ümit Özdağ, is also there. Academics, artists, civil society, municipal council members from every political party, and politicians are there, and we will not stop until we turn that Silivri dungeon, which is a similar place to Assad's Sednaya Prison, which does not have torture or ill-treatment but was established to silence and intimidate dissidents, into a museum of freedom! We will not stop! We will not stop!

TRANSFER OF İBB DETAINEES FROM SILIVRI

Yesterday, yesterday, they transferred 14 people from there at 9:00 PM at night, including dear Murat, Murat Ongun, and dear Necati Özkan, 19 people in total, first to a doctor's examination and then to another prison. Now they are conducting perception operations about this on social media.

Rumors that this transfer would happen had been coming for 10 days, 10 days in advance. Their goal is to separate our friends from each other, to go to those who are each in a different prison separately, and to offer them so-called cooperation. By doing this, they want to support the empty file, the rag MASAK report, the file that the nation sees and says, 'Are you accusing them with this?', instead of the real evidence and real witnesses they could not find, with forgery, saying, 'Slander them and save yourself.' They did this to our 5 female bureaucrats too. They threatened them with their 1-year-old child. They said, 'You won't be able to see them for 10 years.' The answer was: 'I do not lie. I will not say I saw a crime that did not happen. I will not stain the honor of my friends.' They will not succeed this time either! They will not succeed! They will not succeed!

"THERE IS NOT EVEN AN INDICTMENT, THEY ARE APPOINTING TRUSTEES TO 60-YEAR-OLD COMPANIES!"

Also, also, we all saw it together. They are appointing trustees to 30-year-old, 40-year-old, 60-year-old companies. Hey, wasn't everyone innocent until proven guilty? The most fundamental principle of justice was the presumption of innocence. Wasn't a person not to be treated as a criminal before the crime was proven? 24 companies, to deep-rooted companies, 'My brother, apply a measure, freeze it, but what is seizing, appointing a trustee, it's practically a collapse?' Forget the court decision, there isn't even an indictment yet.

"THE FAKE DEMOCRAT MEHMET ŞİMŞEK"

Then, then, for the Turkish economy, there was the supposedly competent, fake democrat, Mehmet Şimşek who was doing his job. He was traveling the world, collecting money, and inviting foreign investors to Turkey. Now, if you say to the one who won Istanbul, 'I won't give it for a 13,000 margin,' and seize his certificate of election, if you slander the one who won with 806,000 this time, and next time when he wins with 1 million, you take him and throw him in jail, if you seize a diploma obtained 31 years ago, if you seize companies before the court is over in front of the whole world, if the certificate of election, diploma, and title deed given by this state have no value, then who trusts the documents, paper, bonds, stocks, and debt instruments of this state?

After that, of course, of course, they have sold 45 billion dollars since March 19, 45 billion dollars! Since that day, since that day, they have taken 20,000 from the pocket of each of Uncle Cemil, Aunt Fatma, and my brother Mehmet, from the pockets of 86 million in Turkey. Look, at the last congress, at the last congress, we did something. You know I have a dear uncle who supports the AK Party, when the youth complain, he says, 'Show me your phone,' he says, 'Take out your phone.' We took out our phones to the prosecutors at this time last week, we showed them. Now you take out your phone, let me see. Take out your phone. Take it out, lift it up. Lift it up. Look.

"OPEN E-DEVLET AND CHECK IF YOUR TITLE DEED IS THERE, IF YOUR DIPLOMA IS THERE?"

Mehmet Şimşek did something like that, open e-Devlet and check, if you have a title deed, is it still there? If you have a diploma, is it still there? They left no security for anything in this country, nothing. That is why Mehmet Şimşek, the whole world knows, learned, and heard that you are the financial leg of this coup. I will inform those who do not know, I will make those who do not hear, hear. I will show this face of yours to the whole world!

"MEHMET ŞİMŞEK BURNED 45 BILLION DOLLARS OF OURS!"

This Mehmet Şimşek, this Mehmet Şimşek, unfortunately, just because Ekrem İmamoğlu was afraid of Erdoğan, because he was afraid of competing, while seizing his diploma, while trying to bring a political ban on him, burned 45 billion dollars of ours. They were supposedly saying there is 560 billion dollars of corruption, they could not prove even 1 TL.

"THE FINANCIAL LEG OF THIS JUNTA IS MEHMET ŞİMŞEK, HE WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!"

The whole world knows, learned, and heard that you are the financial leg of this coup. I will inform those who do not know, I will make those who do not hear, hear. I will show this face of yours to the whole world.

I received a report from those working at MASAK. When a request comes to MASAK from the prosecutor's office, the minister is definitely informed. The minister either has an assignment made or does not. The written report first goes to the reading commission, and from there, the minister is definitely informed. The minister's attitude is decisive in whether the report is approved or not. Mehmet Şimşek, who says 'I have no news, I have no information' when I mention the report given by this MASAK, which is under his control, is once again not telling the truth. The financial leg of this junta is Mehmet Şimşek, he will be held accountable!

"IT HAS EMERGED THAT THE BIGGEST TRUMP IS TRUMP"

The March 19 coup is a coup carried out with instructions and permission from across the ocean. It has emerged that the biggest Trump is Trump. From now on, we are facing a government and its media that have shrunk enough to be happy with these statements of Trump, who says, 'I like Erdoğan, he is our boy, he is smart, I got our priest from him in the past.'

"THE 10 MILLIONTH SIGNATURE HAS BEEN SURPASSED!"

Finally, Özel, who gave the final number for the signature campaign demanding that İmamoğlu be released and become a presidential candidate and for early elections, 'According to the result of the count we made as of noon today, as of 5:00 PM yesterday evening, the 10 millionth signature was surpassed yesterday. However, our goal is big, our path is long, we will work together until we reach more than half of the voters' he used the expressions.

News Source: 12punto