CHP Chairman Özgür Özel speaks from Beyazıt Square: 'Someone invited us to a fight, their invitation is accepted'

The Republican People's Party (CHP) is continuing its "The Nation Protects Its Will" rallies, which it launched following the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu.

The location for this week's rally was Beyazıt, the source of the protests for İmamoğlu that have spread across all four corners of Turkey.

ALİ MAHİR BAŞARIR: THEY DID NOT LET OUR LIGHTING EQUIPMENT INTO THE AREA

CHP Group Deputy Chairman and Mersin MP Ali Mahir Başarır announced in a statement at Beyazıt Square that CHP's lighting equipment was not permitted into the area.

"No matter what they do, that sun will rise" said Başarır, adding the following:

"Look, behind us are those who revoked the diploma. Here, there are thousands, tens of thousands of our citizens protesting this situation.

We are calling out from here once again. Give us the diploma. Look, it is pitch black. Do you know why? They did not let our lights in. They did not let our lighting equipment in. Do they think they are darkening this area?"

No. Tens of thousands of people here will illuminate this place with their phones in a moment. Do those who darken Turkey, those who darken the country, think they can darken this place? No matter what they do, that sun will rise. This country will be enlightened.

MESSAGE FROM EKREM İMAMOĞLU

CHP İstanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik read the message of the detained Ekrem İmamoğlu.

Çelik said the following:

My precious fellow citizens, dear Istanbulites, my comrades who multiply hope, solidarity, kindness, and beauty in every square... This evening, we are on a democracy watch in one of Istanbul's historical and symbolic squares.

As the guardians of Istanbul, we are proud to have restored Beyazıt Square to Istanbul in accordance with its historical texture. Welcome, all of you... Yesterday was May 6th. May 6th is one of the darkest days in our history. I commemorate with mercy Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan, and Hüseyin İnan, who were taken from life while struggling for a fully independent Turkey in the footsteps of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Those who took these three saplings wanted to stifle the people's demand for full independence and democracy. For this purpose, the law was disregarded, and the judiciary ruled whatever those in power wanted. But the wound this great injustice opened in consciences has never healed. The fire of the struggle for a fully independent, democratic Turkey has never gone out. Those in power wanted to divide this nation into 'us and them' and build a bloody wall between citizens. They tried to pit the people against each other by contrasting the executions of Adnan Menderes and his friends with those of Deniz Gezmiş and his friends.

“THE FAVOR OUR NATION SHOWED US FRIGHTENED THE GOVERNMENT”

For many years, we were divided into political camps. We could not feel each other's pain enough. We could not meet on the basis of democracy and justice and achieve a great revival. All coup plotters, whether military or civilian, always benefited from this separation and always drew strength from this division. On another May 6th, May 6th, 2019, we faced a judicial coup this time. Those who did not like the will of the Istanbulites had the election canceled. They said, 'An election where we do not emerge from the ballot box is not considered valid.' But on June 23, millions who did not compromise on democracy and justice united at the ballot box and dealt a great blow for democracy to the judicial coup plotters. The 2024 elections revealed that Turkey's future would be determined by the alliance of democracy and justice that the nation realized at the ballot box. The favor our nation showed us frightened the government. For this reason, they started an operation that will remain a black mark in our political history. First, they canceled my 30-year-old diploma with a prosecutor's pressure through an unauthorized board. Then, yesterday, they deleted it from the system with another unlawful attempt.

In our history, no politician has ever feared their opponent this much. No politician has ever resorted to such unlawful and immoral acts out of fear of their opponent. In our history, no politician has ever trampled on the state and the law to such an extent to eliminate an opponent they fear. In a country where an official diploma issued by the state is invalidated for political purposes, by force, and in violation of the law, all documents bearing the state's signature and seal lose their value. First and foremost, our national currency, the Turkish Lira, loses its value. This is exactly why our money has become worthless. Because a person who considers the Republic of Turkey their own personal property can declare documents issued by our state invalid whenever it suits their political future, the value of our currency drops. If things continue this way, it will drop even further. Because they want to keep the state not as a protector of the nation, but in a position against the nation's hard-won rights.

“REAL POLITICIANS RESPECT THE NATION”

There is a fundamental difference between tutelary figures and politicians. Politicians yearn to be in the public eye and to face their opponents before the nation. They want to compete with their rivals at the ballot box and debate them in live broadcasts in the presence of the nation. Because real politicians respect the nation, take the nation's opinion as a basis, and try to influence the nation's opinion by explaining their own ideas. Tutelary figures, on the other hand, are afraid to face their political rivals in front of the nation and run away. Have you ever seen a tutelary figure debating their political rival in front of the nation on television? You cannot see it. Coup plotters can only engage with their political rivals through the judiciary and the police; they lack the intelligence and the courage to face their opponents. They locked me in a cell in Silivri, but they are still terrified of me.

“WE HAVE A PROMISE TO OUR YOUTH: JUSTICE WILL COME TO THIS COUNTRY”

For days, I have been saying, ‘Broadcast my trial live on television so the nation can see the truth’; they cannot say a single word. They can neither say ‘Of course we will broadcast it’ nor ‘It can never be broadcast.’ They remain silent. Because they are no longer politicians; they are tutelary figures... They are afraid of being in the public eye, and they want to do everything in secret, away from the nation.  

They stole the election. They stole the diploma. They stole freedom. They burned 60 billion dollars. But do not forget this: The nation is greater than all tutelary figures and coup plotters. We will suffer, we will pay a price, but we will never lose our hope. We will never let our smiling faces fade. To our children who have dedicated their young lives to a fully independent, democratic Turkey, and to our youth who have been protecting democracy and their future in the squares since that day they came from Beyazıt to Saraçhane on March 19th, tearing down the mountains of fear: We have a promise to you. Justice will come to this country. Freedom will come to this country. Equality will come to this country... And everything will be just fine. Everything will be just fine. Ekrem İmamoğlu. Silivri Prison.”

BEYAZIT ANTHEM FROM ÖZGÜR ÖZEL

Republican People's Party Chairman Özgür Özel began his speech with the Beyazıt Anthem. Özel said the following: 

"They came with their books and their songs

They became a wave of light, a wave of light

They marched against the darkness, against the darkness

They occupied the squares, they occupied the squares once again"

Highlights from Özgür Özel's speech are as follows: 

"Ekrem İmamoğlu, who believes in you, is a graduate of Istanbul University, and was appointed by you, only to be unjustly arrested, also trusts the spark in your eyes.

This square is a 40,000-square-meter area. With the demands of the youth and the efforts of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul University reclaimed this square. Someone who wanted to overshadow this enthusiasm did everything they could to prevent it from being lit."

Today, someone who wanted to overshadow this enthusiasm did everything to prevent us from lighting up this square."

200,000 young people have gathered to question your diploma. Erdoğan without a diploma! Mr. Erdoğan, a diploma is not questioned like that, it is questioned like this.

To those who are afraid and intimidated by this struggle, and to those who want the opposition to return home: when you saw that we would never surrender, you wrote us a letter. And you sent that letter via a murderer of his own child. You are saying, 'If you upset me, if you continue to resist, look at what I am doing; I am sending a murderer who did not spare his own child to your side, come to your senses.' It was necessary to respond to that letter. My answer to those who wrote it is Beyazıt Square.

When they attempted the March 19 coup, when we said 'whatever is going to happen will happen tonight,' and when we invited all of Istanbul to Saraçhane against those who were the targets of the coup and those who were pursuing the appointment of trustees, they banned gathering, assembling, and marching.

They tied up the ferries at the piers, closed the subways, and blocked all the bridges leading to the historic peninsula. They did not let buses within 10 kilometers. And we knew that if something was going to happen, it would happen that night. And that day, what happened in this square, happened.

The Darülfünun broke through the barricades in front of Istanbul University and reached Saraçhane, saving Saraçhane. No matter who uses their courage and this noble institution for evil or mistakes, no matter which incompetent hands try to tarnish the tradition of this ancient institution, Istanbul University is different; it is right here.

"I ACCEPT THIS AS A DECLARATION OF WAR"

When those operations were started by someone appointed to Istanbul from Ankara, whose previous duty was a political one, they asked what this was... I said that I accept these actions—taking our mayors and locking them up, these trustee appointments, this attack on the will of Istanbul—as a declaration of war. Because we are peaceful, but let no one, absolutely no one, try to crush us by relying on our docility, our good intentions, the purity of our hearts, or the goodness of our minds.

If you invite us to a fight, then things change. Some have invited us to a fight, and their invitation is accepted. We know how to live and how to die, just as we know how to laugh with one voice. All for one, one for all.

We have collected 14 million 800 thousand signatures. These signatures are being collected and stored; a notary will be called, and they will be counted. 

There is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us!"

News Source: 12punto