CHP holds its 67th rally in Ordu: 'They have committed unimaginable corruption'

The 67th of the CHP's rallies themed "Standing Up for the National Will" will be held in Ordu today. CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, who will speak at the rally, arrived in Ordu this morning.

Özel's first stop in Ordu was the Aysan Hazelnut factory. There, Özel received information about production processes from Aysan Hazelnut Chairman of the Board Ömer Aydın and toured the facility.

Meeting with female workers, Özel sat at the table where the workers were sorting roasted hazelnuts and sorted hazelnuts with them.

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel will speak on recent political developments, the economic crisis, and the problems of hazelnut producers.

EKREM İMAMOĞLU'S LETTER WAS READ

CHP Ordu Provincial Chairman Bülent Akpınar read the letter from Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu:

Ordu, with its clean land, noble people, beautiful Ordu, my brave and big-hearted fellow citizens, dear ladies and gentlemen, young people with eyes full of light, smiling children, I greet you all with love and respect. I embrace each of you with longing.

I thank you all very much. May you be well and thrive. I wholeheartedly thank the Republican People's Party Ordu Provincial Chairman, Mr. Bülent Akpınar, and through him our entire organization, for the determined and pioneering struggle he has led. Dear fellow citizens, the Black Sea is my home. It is the hearth of my mother, father, and ancestors. I was molded here and reached these days.

I have never broken away from my roots. Even if my body remained apart, my heart has always been in this land, and it will always be so. For years, whenever I start a new job or take a new step for this country, I always say the same prayer. I say, may God not let me down before my family, the lands where I was born, and then Istanbul and my country. Mayor Ekrem Mayor, with the strength I draw from this prayer, my faith in God, and my infinite trust in my nation, I stand tall and fight without tiring.

This is a struggle for the Republic and democracy. It is the struggle of those who say sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation against all kinds of coups directed at the nation's representatives and the national will. This is a struggle for justice and freedom. It is the struggle of those who set out to make justice and freedom prevail everywhere, not for themselves, but for everyone. This is a struggle for abundance and prosperity. Let the resources of this country not be under the control of a handful of people. Let everyone receive their due.

It is the struggle of those who want everyone to attain prosperity. Our struggle is the struggle to make Turkey a strong country. But we cannot be strong by gathering all power and authority in one person or one party. This country is only strong if its institutions are strong. The Parliament, the government, and the judiciary will be strong on their own and against each other.

Local governments, the media, the business world, unions, and professional chambers will be strong. Above all, the citizen will be strong. The citizen will be strong in terms of their rights, freedoms, and the material means and guarantees they possess. Administrators will know their place before the citizen. No one will be able to speak over the word of the citizen.

Our country, our economy, our industry, and our technology can only strengthen and grow this way. The government that failed to achieve this, that disturbed the peace of the country and reduced its prosperity, received a significant warning from the nation in the 2024 elections. The nation gave great support to Republican People's Party municipalities and clearly signaled the next government of this country. Since that day, we have been facing a government that has gone further outside the law with every step and has become more cruel with each passing day.

They are trying to intimidate us with unjust, unlawful lawsuits, mistreatment, and pressure, and to shape the nation's will through bullying. They are engaged in plots and threats not only against us but even against our families. But no matter what they do, the nation is not convinced, and it will not be.

Those who have been distracting the nation for months with wolves and octopuses and conducting perception operations have deceived no one but themselves. All their lies and slanders have turned back and hit them. Now, they are after new plots in a state so devoid of reason and common sense that they would accuse us of terrorism and espionage. They will fail again. Our nation sees both the plots and their causes very well.

No matter what they do, they will not be able to keep the order of waste and tyranny they have established alive with lies and oppression. This order will change. We will bury the mentality that ignores law and democracy and sees its citizens as valuable only when they pay taxes or vote into history. We will make justice the foundation of our state and a noble value of our common life. We will make Turkey a country of hardworking, honest, and happy people who live comfortably on their labor and are confident in their future. We will establish the government of goodness, compassion, and brotherhood. We will be patient. We will strive. We will be courageous, and we will definitely succeed.

Even if the world turns upside down, even if the streams of Ordu flow backward, we will succeed. 86 million will win.

ÖZEL SPOKE

After İmamoğlu's letter was read, CHP leader Özgür Özel addressed the people of Ordu:

One side is green. One side is the plateau, one side is the coast. Ordu, which carries the hazelnut on its branch, love in its heart, and bravery in its soul. Welcome, everyone. I greet you all with respect. We are in Ordu, which gives life to the soil and longevity to the hazelnut. We are right on the slope of Boztepe, which has one of the most beautiful views in the world. While watching the exuberant waves of the Black Sea, you beautiful people of the Black Sea, who have made it a principle to carry love for humanity, the determination to struggle, the inability to tolerate injustice, and the ability to defend everyone's rights as if they were your own in your hearts, welcome to you all.

I greet you all with respect. Today we are in Altınordu, in Republic Square. In the previous term, we had a mayor in Ordu. And we had a mayor in Gülyalı who took office at the age of 28 and showed what can be done when a young person is given an opportunity.

I thank Ulaş Tepe, who ran for Altınordu, the central district of Ordu, from the smallest district of Ordu today and won Altınordu with a record number of votes, and you who supported him, from the bottom of my heart on behalf of my party. May you be well and thrive.

We are just at the beginning of the road. They have reached the end. We are just starting. We will take the Ordu Metropolitan Municipality. We will take all the districts of Ordu. Because as Republican People's Party municipalities in Turkey perform their duties, touch people's lives, and interact with you everywhere—on the street, in the neighborhood, in the coffeehouse, in the field, in the mosque...

I thank Ulaş Tepe, who ran for Altınordu, the central district of Ordu, from the smallest district of Ordu today and won Altınordu with a record number of votes, and you who supported him, from the bottom of my heart on behalf of my party. May you be well and thrive.

We are just at the beginning of the road. They have reached the end. We are just starting. We will take the Ordu Metropolitan Municipality. We will take all the districts of Ordu. Because as Republican People's Party municipalities in Turkey perform their duties, touch people's lives, and interact with you everywhere—on the street, in the neighborhood, in the coffeehouse, in the field, in the mosque...

The nation distinguishes between right and wrong, the hardworking and the lazy, and those who contribute to the city with their services and those who contribute to themselves. And this brings us the next success, the next success. Therefore, after this important success in Ordu, I wholeheartedly believe that we will achieve much greater things. Of course, merit is subject to appreciation.

If an election is won, it is won with the organization.

Dear people of Ordu, perhaps there will not be another Saturday where the weather will be this accommodating. You set aside today for us. You came here. You did not just fill this square, this huge square, when there was no election atmosphere in politics; you overflowed from the square. You honored this place from the balconies everywhere we could be seen across. I thank you for this historic day and I say this: Of course, squares are for coming to, for speaking.

If squares that were said to be impossible to fill are filling up, if they are overflowing, if these people carry this determination to struggle in their hearts, if Ordu is going down in history with its 68th action, we are on the right path. We are on the right path. Do not look at what anyone says.

Before us is a gang, before us is a group that has given up on governing the state like a state, has entrusted every area to someone who is unauthorized but exceeds their authority or uses unauthorized power, who looks only at not leaving their seat no matter what happens, who does not think about the retiree, the minimum wage earner, the laborer, the farmer, the hazelnut producer, or the tradesman, and who just keeps doing salon politics to stay in power. Let them love the cool of summer and the heat of winter. Let them have their own appointees applaud them.

We continue to overflow from square to square and run toward power. For this, I say to all citizens in all 81 provinces who see this square from their homes and say, 'Well done Ordu, what a beautiful Ordu, how beautiful Ordu became today.' If you are complaining about the salary you receive, if you are complaining about the price of meat at the butcher or the price of cheese at the dairy where you go, if even a tea and a bagel have become a luxury, if your product is not worth anything, if you have an objection, if you are not satisfied with your child's education, or if your child is dreaming of a future in other countries, and if someone is losing hope from here, then you will leave that remote control somewhere at home. You will take off those pajamas. You will run wherever you are called. You will not leave the square or the street empty. You will fight. You will fight. Only then will we win. Only then will we win.

You know, they used to say, 'He steals but he works,' or 'He commits corruption but he also builds roads.'

"THEY HAVE COMMITTED UNIMAGINABLE CORRUPTION"

By God, they haven't built roads, but they have committed unimaginable corruption in Çatalpınar. Now, when a slanderer says to a brilliant mayor of mine, 'I heard something like this,' you break down the door at 6 in the morning. You raid the place with police. You go as far as the mayor's bedroom and detain him. When entering and leaving the police station, you take that humiliating footage with two police officers or gendarmes on either side and immediately serve it to the television stations.

Before even proving the crime, you spread what you cannot even allege as if it were true and engage in character assassination. Look now, let me tell you here what Çatalpınar did.

The Justice and Development Party's Çatalpınar Municipality, the Ministry of Environment gives grant support to this municipality. They will buy 10,000 square meters of paving stones. That makes exactly 50 trucks. The money for 10,000 square meters is paid, but while waiting for 50 trucks, 15 trucks arrive.

A total of 3,000 square meters. This is being investigated. An objection is made. There is officially a situation of being caught in the act. 'Oh no, what will we do?' In the middle of the night, while 7,000 square meters of paving stones are being brought from other provinces with 11 trucks, they are detected by cameras. In other words, they are committing theft and corruption. When caught, they are also caught while moving the stones of another municipality that have already been paid for to here. Well, did you go to this mayor's house, make a phone call? Did you summon him? Did you ask him? Did you open an investigation? Did you hold him accountable for this? They put 16 of our friends in prison based on a single statement written by slanderers that has no evidence.

In Çatalpınar, unfortunately, those who do not build roads in Ordu find their way in Çatalpınar. These squares are rebelling against this injustice, this unfairness. How are they filling up? They are filling up because you do this. There are many complaints about the Ordu-Giresun Airport.

They say the number of flights is insufficient and tickets are expensive. The hospital shortage, the need for ambulances in the districts, the lack of MRIs, constant referrals to other places, and the lack of doctors are major problems. There is a teacher shortage in schools, a great teacher shortage, but there are schools without teachers among 331 schools, yet a spiritual counselor has been sent to all schools with ÇEDES.

As the Republican People's Party, let me specifically say this. We criticized what the Diyanet (Directorate of Religious Affairs) did in the previous term a lot. This term, the President of Religious Affairs has been reading sermons since the day he came, including reading a Mevlüt for our founder on October 29th. I went yesterday.

In the Friday sermon, he talks about loyalty, and sermons that are well-composed, do not enter politics, do not offend women, do not interfere with the freedom of young people, and embrace everyone in a correct way are being read. I said that if it continues like this, I will separate the Diyanet from the past in the coming process. We are looking at this carefully. However, let us say this much.

We defend the religious official doing their job in the best way, in the freest way, and we defend freedom of worship and freedom of belief to the end; we are the guarantors of it. However, we do not find it right for the Ministry of National Education to enter into various businesses through associations, foundations, and religious officials with certain protocols and inappropriate tasks.

The place for religious education is clear. The place for the duty of religious officials is clear. The place and duty of the teacher are clear. We defend this wholeheartedly. Clearly and with determination. Also, one of the issues that saddens me the most regarding Ordu, Giresun, and the Black Sea is that if you fly a little low by plane or helicopter, you see that behind this beautiful strip of falcons, the mountains are riddled with holes, the forests are riddled with holes.

Then you look at the numbers, and there are those that will be worse than what is already there. Today, 74% of Ordu has been opened to mining licenses. 65% of the forests have been given as mining licenses. 76% of agricultural lands have been allocated to mining licenses.

As the Republican People's Party, of course, let mines be extracted and processed. I will touch upon that in a moment. But, but we continue our understanding that says 'people first,' 'nature first,' 'Ordu first,' and protects agricultural lands and forests to the end.

We have never compromised on this, and we will never compromise. They said the yield would be high this year. First, they pulled the price of hazelnuts downward. Frost hit the hazelnut orchards. The sun scorched them. Stink bugs infested them. Unfortunately, especially in Ordu, the yield remained very low.

When this happened, prices were going upward a bit, and then this so-called world giant—may its stature collapse—the firm that is a monopoly in hazelnuts came out and made a statement. It says—it doesn't do it itself, but it leaks false news to one of the most respected media outlets in Europe. 'Sir, we will not buy hazelnuts from Turkey this year.'

When this happened, there was manipulation and panic in the market, and hazelnut prices started to come down. I said we would show the strongest reaction to them. We invited the Competition Authority to take action. It should have been 50, but they imposed a 30,000-ton purchase obligation in between.

It should be at least 50,000 to 75,000 tons, but the Competition Authority looked at the situation. They also gave a commitment that they would make purchases. From here, from here, I don't recognize any world giant. There is one world giant in this hazelnut.

Ordu, Giresun, the Black Sea. If you try to crush the hazelnut producer today, you do it this year. Maybe if your life permits, if your life permits, you do it next year too. Then the person who will come to the head of the government of the Republic of Turkey will not be someone like the last one who tells the farmer, the hazelnut producer, 'Take your mother and go,' but on the contrary, someone who says, 'The farmer is the master of the nation.'

News Source: 12punto