First statement from Özgür Özel after the detentions! 'They want to eliminate the ballot box...'

The investigations conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into allegations of corruption and bribery within the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) have spread to Adana and Adıyaman.

This morning, Adana Metropolitan Mayor Zeydan Karalar and Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere were detained in a dawn operation.

Meanwhile, in line with the instructions of the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Antalya Metropolitan Mayor Muhittin Böcek was also detained.

Following the detention of the 3 mayors, the Republican People's Party (CHP) MYK decided to hold an extraordinary meeting. During the 3.5-hour meeting, the operations against the municipalities were evaluated, and decisions regarding a new roadmap were taken.

Accordingly, the Amasya rally planned for this evening at 20:30 will not be canceled.

Following the MYK meeting, CHP leader Özgür Özel will hold a press conference at the CHP Headquarters today at 15:00.

"THEY WANT TO ELIMINATE THE BALLOT BOX"

CHP leader Özel is currently making statements at the press conference.

Our Chairman Özgür Özel is holding a press conference at our Headquarters. https://t.co/0flDckFlSD

— CHP ???? (@herkesicinCHP) July 5, 2025

Stating that Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who provided the testimonies that form the basis of the investigation, gifted an official car to the AKP Mayor of Isparta in exchange for a tender he received, Özgür Özel said, "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the same man bought this car for your mayor. If you have any honor, any integrity, any morality, answer... There is a world of difference between this and the friends who were detained today. Here, the evidence is clear, the proof is clear, the confession is clear. We have a 32-year-old young mayor sitting in prison over a Peugeot Partner that cannot be proven, a campaign car we never touched; while your mayor is driving around with the 'AK' (white/clean) license plate of the AK Party. Is this your 'cleanliness', is this equality?"

"THEY ARE TRYING TO ELIMINATE THE BALLOT BOX"

The CHP leader's statements are as follows:

“A handful of people within this government, taking three prosecutors, three judges, and three secret witnesses with them, declared war on this nation on March 19, 2025. We defined this from the first day by saying, 'This declaration of war is not just against us, but against democratic politics.' Indeed, the solidarity and common findings put forward by all parties outside the People's Alliance across the political spectrum, from the far right to the far left, were in this direction. It is very clear that they no longer want to govern this country with the consent of the nation. They want to eliminate the only thing left in the hands of the nation; the ballot box, and they are rehearsing for this. They are imposing an authoritarian regime without a ballot box on the nation.

We have been resisting in the squares against this evil for 108 days. For 108 days, without any evidence, they have been keeping our presidential candidate, who received 15.5 million votes, our Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor, our mayors in Istanbul and Adana, and many of our municipal council members and bureaucrats in prison. They have spent a total of 150 billion dollars in 108 days. That means what they have done has cost 6 trillion liras. In 108 days, the nation has become even poorer.

Our country's reputation in the world has been further damaged. Contrary to what was hoped, expected, or said, our internal peace, unity, and solidarity have gradually weakened and regressed. We are facing those who are fundamentally harming the hope for peace, the hope for living together, and the hope for a prosperous Turkey for these lands, who are trying to close this country off and turn it into a country governed by oppression internally. They have not been able to produce the slightest evidence, the slightest proof, or a single concrete indicator regarding our friends they are holding inside.”

“WE WILL ADOPT THE MOST SENSITIVE, METICULOUS, AND UNCOMPROMISING STANCE IN MANAVGAT”

“Independently of all this, you all followed our stance yesterday regarding the allegations of catching someone in the act and the footage related to an operation carried out in Manavgat. Our investigative committee, one of whom is a legal expert and two of whom have experience in local government, proceeded to Antalya and Manavgat at the speed of light. They are conducting the necessary work, examinations, and research there, holding the necessary meetings with public authorities, judicial authorities, administrative authorities, political authorities, and our party, and according to the report they will provide, the Republican People's Party will adopt the most sensitive, meticulous, and uncompromising stance required, as we have stated. Let no one have any doubt about this.

However, the nation knows, and in fact, AKP politicians or their alliance partners also know, the state of those who cannot make progress with secret witnesses they give tree names to, and with 'confession letters' signed in tears by people they have kept inside for months and threatened with their children.”

“THEY DID NOT HESITATE TO ATTACK OUR MAYORS WHO HAVE BECOME WORLD-RENOWNED”

“In this very atmosphere, we woke up to another darkness this morning with a dawn operation. A criminal organization leader, who is neck-deep in crime, did not express what he knew, but rather what he likened to what he knew, or a part of what he knew, to a party, and they did not hesitate to attack our mayors who have become world-renowned, who have been appreciated by countries for the duties they have performed, and who have been appreciated and received awards all over the world.

Abdurrahman Tutdere, whom the whole world recognized as a community leader during the earthquake, and who was subsequently nominated not by us, but by mothers—Kurds and Turks, AKP supporters and CHP supporters alike—who were weeping, who asked for something for Adıyaman every time he came to us or went anywhere, and who even said 'They have it, Adıyaman needs it more. Please, for Adıyaman' when something was done for another city, to the point where some of his colleagues were afraid to talk about anything in his presence, a friend of ours who sleeps and wakes with Adıyaman, was detained. The allegations are completely nonsense, completely hearsay, completely slander. Zeydan Karalar in Adana... Seyhan Mayor in 2014. Adana Metropolitan Mayor in 2019 and 2024. A mayor who was elected with support far above the vote potential of the Republican People's Party, with the support of all of Adana, whom the people of Adana call 'A Mayor like Adana', and who also assumed the Deputy Chairmanship of the Union of Municipalities of Turkey after the coup attempt against Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu, and whose door was knocked on in Adana this morning. His retired teacher wife opens the door.

When they see the situation, they say, 'Where is Zeydan Karalar? We came to detain him.' She says, 'He went to Gebze.' She gives his exact address in Gebze, and this time the teams go to Gebze and detain Zeydan Karalar with the footage you see. On the other hand, our Antalya Metropolitan Mayor Muhittin Böcek, the pride of the Yörüks, has been a mayor uninterruptedly for 26 years. In the town, in Konyaaltı, in the Metropolitan Municipality. The first mayor in history to win the Antalya provincial, later called Metropolitan Municipality, twice in a row from any party. While no mayor had been able to receive a vote of confidence to be re-elected at the end of the term because they were expected to provide services for 25 million people in Antalya while receiving an appropriation for 2 million people, the police were at the door of our Mayor Muhittin, our mayor who achieved this impossible feat from an opposition party, this morning.”

“WE ARE THE EXCEPTION IN THE MUNICIPALITIES WHERE AZİZ İHSAN AKTAŞ WORKS”

“So what could bring these three mayors, Mayor Ekrem, and the mayors in Istanbul together, how could it be? There is a criminal organization leader. His name is Aziz İhsan Aktaş. I am not saying this. As the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office served after the Beşiktaş Municipality operation and stated several times after operations on various municipalities, there is someone named Aziz İhsan Aktaş and he has established a criminal organization. He takes jobs from municipalities and it is alleged that he distributes bribes in return. It is thought that there is suspicion in all the work this Aziz İhsan Aktaş does, and whichever municipality he did work for, whichever municipality he mentioned so far, an operation is organized there. If you ask which municipalities were organized, you remember our municipalities in Istanbul, the recent Gaziosmanpaşa, Avcılar. You remember the first Beşiktaş.

He was previously detained due to the Esenyurt City Consensus. But they made a new arrest over Aziz İhsan Aktaş, they made his second arrest. You remember Seyhan. You remember Ceyhan. Now Adıyaman Municipality and Adana Metropolitan Municipality. The contract with Adıyaman Municipality has ended and has not been renewed. There is no contract with Adana Metropolitan Municipality this term, nor the last term. While Mayor Zeydan was managing Seyhan, a contract remaining from eight years ago continued, and he made a payment then. His name is mentioned, right? 'Take Zeydan Karalar.' The situation we are facing here is that they detain the mayor of whichever municipality Aziz İhsan Aktaş cut an invoice to and received money from, and with the practices we have seen so far, they arrest them. Well, hasn't this Aziz İhsan Aktaş worked with another municipality, another public institution other than the CHP? We are the exception, the rule is to work with the AK Party.”

AZİZ İHSAN AKTAŞ'S RELATIONSHIP WITH AKP MUNICIPALITIES

“The Court of Cassation, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the State Airports Authority, the Electricity Generation Corporation, Turkish Airlines, Turkish Airlines serving the whole world. The rectorates of Pamukkale and Uludağ Universities, public hospitals of 20 provinces, AKP-run Trabzon Metropolitan, Kocaeli Metropolitan, Kahramanmaraş Metropolitan, Ordu Metropolitan, Elazığ and Isparta provincial municipalities. Again, for years from AKP Bahçelievler, Fatih, Zeytinburnu, Haliliye, Karaköprü, Eyyübiye, Ünye, Antakya, Nurdağı, Çayırova, Demirci, Adapazarı municipalities. Also regarding previous years, Balıkesir Metropolitan, Şanlıurfa Metropolitan, Afyonkarahisar, Kilis, Yozgat, Uşak when they were in the AKP, and Çekmeköy, Seyhan, Sandıklı when they were in the AKP. My friends will give it to you here too. There is a full list, friends. Aziz İhsan Aktaş's relationship with AKP municipalities.”

“THEY BENEFIT FROM THE AK PARTY'S 'DOES NOT SHOW DIRT' RULE”

“If any of these, any municipality, for example; if Kilis Municipality were working with him now, they would have taken our mayor away. If the Ordu Municipality, the Ordu Mayor he worked with last term, were CHP, he would be inside. Among these municipalities, Istanbul's Bahçelievler Municipality. It gave the latest and largest tender, and it gave a fragmented tender, Istanbul Bahçelievler Municipality. If it were CHP, he would be arrested right now. Why aren't they arrested? Because they benefit from the AK Party's rule that 'it does not carry dirt, it does not show dirt, all kinds of work are known and resolved within the AK Party, it does not go to the judiciary.' Remember, the Justice and Development Party went through a process where it accused five of its own metropolitan municipalities and dozens of its municipalities, by giving them nicknames later, of what they called 'metal fatigue', but essentially two things: FETÖ membership or corruption, and most of them of both together.

What did they say? To Melih Gökçek, the Mayor of Balıkesir, the Mayor of Istanbul, in the beginning. What did they say to them? They said, 'Either you resign, or we will do what is necessary and take you.' I am the Chairman of the Republican People's Party. For example, I cannot dismiss the Adana Mayor or the Manavgat Mayor. If I do anything, I expel them from the party. I cannot remove them from the mayoralty. How does the AKP remove them? Since their Chairman is also the President or the head of the executive, and the judiciary is under their command, they say 'You are a FETÖ member' and take them, or they say 'There is corruption' and take them. When they heard this, some resigned crying, some laughing and playing. You all know. What happened to the mayors who resigned?”

“AZİZ İHSAN AKTAŞ GIVES THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO DID NOT SATISFY HIM”

“Has anyone called one of them, asked a question, invited them? Let alone a morning operation, a dawn operation, taking them away, keeping them in custody for four days, then arresting them, trying them. Has anyone asked them a question? Whereas Bülent Arınç, who said 'You sold Ankara parcel by parcel', is the Deputy Prime Minister of this party, the Speaker of the Parliament of this party, a Minister of this party. Later, a member of the Presidential Advisory Board of this party. The person who knows the marrow, the bone, the white blood cells of the AK Party. 'You sold it to FETÖ parcel by parcel,' he says. 'There is all kinds of corruption,' he says. Was a question asked? I ask the AKP members and MHP members who have a conscience. Those who do not ask these questions to real thieves, corrupt people, whoever Aziz İhsan Aktaş has worked with... Most of these are like this, look.

There is nothing for those Aziz İhsan Aktaş continues to work with. Aziz İhsan Aktaş gives the names of those who did not work with Aziz İhsan Aktaş and did not satisfy Aziz İhsan Aktaş. Imagine a criminal organization, headed by Aziz İhsan Aktaş. He has become a confessor. Aziz İhsan Aktaş is at home, those he slanders are in prison. And his driver, accountant, etc. My friends, where was this abundance of yogurt found? Where was it found? You will establish a criminal organization. You will derive benefit from there. After it comes out, you will say 'Let me be a confessor, let me go. Let these remain.' Where is this abundance of yogurt? This Aziz İhsan Aktaş is not a confessor, he is a slanderer.”

“THE ISPARTA MAYOR IS OUTSIDE BECAUSE HE IS AN AKP MEMBER”

“Is there any evidence that he gave the bribe he mentioned in the Republican People's Party municipalities? They say 'We gave money.' Is there a place where that money was put? Was a single penny found? They are looking for a safe in the ground, in the sky, in the plateau, in the field, in the well. They found two safes, a municipal seal came out of one, and 48 single-shot pistol bullets came out of the other. Shameless, brazen TRT, instead of those images, was pulling dollars out of the safes from stock footage. There is no such slander, no such tongue-lashing, no such hand-reaching to people's honor and dignity. Look, it's very clear. Everyone in Isparta knows this. No one denies it either.

This Isparta Mayor's AKP-owned, A8 Long official car. Audi A8 Long. Its license plate is Isparta, the 'AK' of the Justice and Development Party or the 'AK' of Ali İhsan Aktaş, 111. Aziz İhsan Aktaş gave this car to the mayor in exchange for receiving a tender. He says it himself. Even when he said it, Akın Gürlek said, 'Skip that, that's known.' He says it himself, he doesn't deny it. The Isparta Mayor doesn't deny it either. The Isparta Municipal Council knows it like their own name. This car was given, and the Isparta Mayor is outside because he is an AKP member.”

"IF YOU HAVE ANY INTEGRITY, ANSWER..."

“For example, during the election of the Avcılar Mayor, not even to him, but during the campaign, a sound vehicle toured the city, rented, for 30 days. Aziz İhsan Aktaş says, 'I toured that car in Avcılar.' Neither the Mayor, nor his relatives, nor anyone else has any connection. Our mayor is inside. The man is driving around in Isparta with the Audi A8 Long that he said he 'gave' and 'received'. Not a sound. I ask Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from here: If you have any integrity, honor, morality, answer. I ask again. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the same man bought this car for your mayor. If you have any honor, any integrity, any morality, answer. There is a world of difference between this and the friends who were detained today. Here, the evidence is clear, the proof is clear, the confession is clear.

We have a 32-year-old young mayor sitting in prison over an unproven Peugeot Partner, a campaign car we never touched. Your mayor is driving around with the 'AK' license plate of the AK Party. Is this your cleanliness, is this your 'AK'. Is this equality? The Isparta municipal council members say to this mayor, 'What's wrong with it, he got the tender. Instead of buying it with our money, we got a free official car.'”

ÖZEL EXPOSED THEM ONE BY ONE: COURT OF CASSATION, THY, TBMM…

“Our mayors had a nursery built, you say 'It constitutes extortion.' They had a school built, you say 'It constitutes bribery.' You say, 'Since you are taking the tender, go donate to the soup kitchen there.' He didn't put money in his pocket. Money came out of your pocket, your shoebox, your clothes bag, and what did you say? What did you say shamelessly, you, you? 'For money to be a bribe, it must come out of the state's pocket. For there to be corruption, the state must suffer damage, it must come out of the state's pocket,' you said. 'What is taken from individuals does not harm the state,' you said. What is taken from the state here? Look at the question you ask a man who runs 30 hours a day, 24 hours a day, to have a park built for earthquake victims in Adıyaman, to have a playground built, to do this and that? I invite you to a little bit of conscience, morality, and decency. Come, let's compete. Come, let's compete in politics. Let's go on A Haber and talk.

You take your documents, and we'll take our documents. When you can't beat us, when you can't beat Mayor Ekrem, why are you sending Akın to trip us up? Is this sportsmanship? Is this honesty? Turkey is at a crossroads now, friends. All opposition, including the politics of the AK Party and MHP, is under threat. A handful of people have set their minds on governing this country with tutelage. And the thousand-year tradition of the state is under threat. Now this struggle is a struggle of either democracy or autocracy. A struggle to protect the ballot box. Everyone will take their place in history. On one side are those who protect the ballot box, on the other side are those who surrender to Mr. Tayyip and his fears. We warn the honorable members of the judiciary, bureaucrats, and conscientious politicians of the state once again. You cannot ask questions to CHP mayors with questions that are not asked to the President of the Court of Cassation, the Speaker of the Parliament, the General Manager of Turkish Airlines, or AKP mayors. While there is a thousand times more there, you cannot try anyone in prison here over an unproven matter.”

“I ASK AKIN GÜRLEK…”

“I want to express it once again from here. This operation is a dirty operation, and a politician has been sent to head this operation. While Akın Gürlek was a judge whose decisions were highly debated in the past, he later became a Deputy Minister in Ankara. It is a cold political position, in Erdoğan's words. The Constitution prohibits those who enter politics from returning to the bench. The man you put in by taking advantage of the loophole because you wrote this Deputy Ministry nonsense after this prohibition of the Constitution, is the man who, when he was only 35 years old, passed everyone senior to him and used a luxury official vehicle from the IBB under AK Party control for 540 days, and while his friend next to him was riding in the most modest vehicle, had his HGS, gasoline, driver, and maintenance done by the IBB during the AK Party period. You are preparing a villa with a view of the Bosphorus for him, which no Chief Public Prosecutor has requested or sat in.

You shamelessly say, 'Renovations had started before his appointment began.' He is having million-lira renovations done. He is having a pool built at the house, he is having illegal outbuildings built. 200 times the money the state would allocate for the lodging and its renovation is being paid. It is clear one by one where that money started moving from. A prosecutor will come, one day he will look at these. No one should think that a man who makes friends with luxury yacht companies and visits a yacht he cannot buy with his 87-year salary with a buyer's eye, asking 'How can this yacht be, how much can it be?', will protect a single penny of this nation. I ask him from here: Is there a summer villa in Tuzla? I ask: Is a businessman from Van paying the credit cards of any of his family members? Is a businessman from Van exempting you from these debts? I ask: Was an apartment bought from a large project in Üsküdar and built for a relative?”

“WE WILL ISSUE THE RED NOTICE, WE WILL HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE ONE BY ONE”

“On one hand, you will give moral lessons to the nation, on the other hand, filth will flow from your pant legs. It's easy. 'The way is clear. When things get to that point, I'll escape abroad through the hole the previous one escaped through.' You will escape through the hole the previous one escaped through. They won't bring them back. Because when they come, they committed the crime together. Of course, Zekeriya Öz won't come. If he comes, if he speaks, it will be revealed what filth many people who are in office in Turkey today have, and what they did in the past will be revealed. Why should we be afraid of those who fled abroad while we are in power coming here? We will issue the red notice, we will bring them back. We will hold them accountable one by one. Let's see; who is exempting whose credit card debts, who is going to the counter and paying? Do you think those cash credit card payments made at that counter will not be found? Do you think you are the only smart one? In the midst of all this filth, he is also creating an atmosphere as if he is doing a 'clean hands' operation. Come on, I am calling out to all AKP members from here now. I ask, I ask, are you in?

Look, we have been submitting a Political Ethics Law Proposal since 2019. The last signature is mine again. I said, 'I will renew the laws we submitted in the previous term.' There is such a procedure. Here is the law we submitted: 'Law on Combating Political Immorality and Political Ethics.' Pages long... We wanted this law, you don't want it. The European Union said, 'If you want a visa, free movement, pass the political ethics law.' The Prime Minister of the time said, he even called on us. We said immediately, I made a statement immediately at that time. 'We will raise both our hands,' I said, to support the political ethics law. That day Davutoğlu said 'Political ethics law.' I said 'Support with both hands,' all Republican People's Party members talked about this issue. He was called to the palace. What did the then-impartial President Erdoğan say to Davutoğlu? Davutoğlu is alive, Erdoğan is alive. No one denies it. 'You can't find a provincial and district head if you pass this law,' he said.”

“ARE YOU IN? LET'S SEE WHO HAS ENRICHED HOW MUCH”

“The AK Party cannot find a provincial and district head if it passes a political ethics law. If the political ethics law had been passed, the financing of politics, the financing of elections, the aid that political parties can receive, the transparent asset status of deputies, their own mayors... Plus, as if these were not enough, first Mahmut Tanal three years ago... This year, as our Group Deputy Chairman, Gökhan Günaydın, in the proposal he submitted on behalf of our group with a single signature, the President, ministers, speakers of parliament, vice presidents, deputy ministers, their spouses, mayors, retrospectively for five and 10 years... Of course, we are just learning that MASAK is such an institution at that time. He says 'Through MASAK' and 'Let all public records be disclosed and the assets we have acquired in the last five and 10 years be disclosed.'

Are you in? Are you in? I ask you while looking into your eyes: AKP members, are you in? Come, let's see who has enriched how much retrospectively for five and 10 years. Are you in for your mayors, for your first-degree relatives? Oh, there is a limit to shamelessness. You are trying to throw mud from afar at the CHP municipality, which is a blank page, because we don't show the dirt in your own hands. One really has to take their hat off to this much. You will be involved in such a dirty business. You know it yourself. If filth, mud, and dirt are not flowing from the pant legs in this municipality issue in the AK Party, I am a dishonorable, shameless person. Come on, let one of you say 'I am a dishonorable, shameless person if these exist in the AK Party.' One of you come out and speak. One of you speak. It is easy to slander innocent, sinless people.”

“IF THE SQUARES ARE NOT CROWDED, MAY GOD CURSE ME!”

“Come on, let's pass a law that will be applied equally to everyone. Come on, let's establish a specially authorized prosecutor's office, specially authorized courts, but not those whose merit we all believe in, trust, not those you have seated on the bench from the AK Youth, from the law office, from the AK Party Youth Branches. Let those whose impartiality we truly trust, whose conscience we truly trust, and who have all kinds of guarantees, question everyone. Don't try to make the nation believe with your television, with your newspaper, by telling the other side the situation you are in, without shame or embarrassment, with this much rudeness. I challenge Erdoğan once again from here.

You went abroad, on the return flight, embargoed until 13:00, at 13:00 all televisions will broadcast. I am telling all those journalists on that plane. How is the recording? The questions are clear. Let someone come out and say 'I asked the question from my own head.' The questions are clear. Erdoğan gives the answers. Are you recording, friends? Is there anyone who will broadcast the tape recording? Is there anyone who will call me and let me listen, saying 'I took the recording'? Recording is forbidden. Who is recording? The Directorate of Communications, who is editing it, down to the comma, to the period? The question is also a question very clearly. He says 'The Republican People's Party is gathering in the squares,' he says 'the squares' are in the question. 'They are calling, but the squares are not crowded,' he says. If the squares are not crowded, may God curse me. If the squares are crowded, may God curse the one who writes it like that.”

TO ERDOĞAN: YOU COWARD OF GOD!

“Doesn't the nation see; is the square crowded or not? 'CHP,' he says, 'claims to be ahead in the polls.' Erdoğan answers, he answers from where he is wounded. 'We are having polls done as much as they are. The AK Party is the first party.' No problem then. Challenge accepted, Sunday, November 2. Since you are the first party, come. You can also be a candidate. We will give the vote. We will have the early election decision taken in the Parliament. Since you are the first party, come. You coward of God. You coward of God, if you were the first party, you would go to the ballot box by doing somersaults.”

“HE HAS BEEN BEGGING ME FOR DAYS…”

“The Republican People's Party is the first party. It is widening the gap every day. Because you won't be able to catch up every day, you say 'Akın run, trip him up.' Yesterday the name of the trip was Istanbul, today Adana, tomorrow Adıyaman, the next day Antalya. If there is anyone in the Republican People's Party who commits corruption, who commits theft, who is involved in crime, may God curse them, and we will curse them too. But for 108 days, slander, slander, slander against such clean people. Now he has come out, attack Adıyaman, attack Antalya, attack Adana. Why? He has been begging me for days. 'Come sit in Ankara.' As if he wasn't bothered by the rallies. 'Sit in Ankara, don't hold rallies in Istanbul.' He says it openly. 'Leave Ekrem.' He also put a sword over my head there. Neither June 30, nor September 8. 'Come take over the party.'

Instead of sitting at the head of the party with your permission, I would lie in Silivri next to Mayor Ekrem with my honor until the election. There is no such thing. Ha 'Sit in Ankara. Do Ankara politics.' I am doing Amasya politics this evening at 20:30. At the same time, they will broadcast it live in the square in Adıyaman too. They will broadcast it in Adana too: They will broadcast it in Antalya too. Wednesday evening in Istanbul. Either Sancaktepe or Kartal. They will shout again, 'Erdoğan without a diploma.' Crack. They will shout again, 'Erdoğan resign.' Explode!”

“ERDOĞAN OFFERED ME POLITICAL BRIBERY”

“Such lack of conscience, lack of fairness, shamelessness. At the end of this, he is still offering bribes. They are offering political bribery. Özgür Özel would come, stop defending his friends, leave his party, and sit down. Instead of sitting there, I have risked lying in prison next to Mayor Ekrem until you are kicked out in the first elections. There is a way to silence it. I don't say that so that my mother, my father, my child won't be upset. If you have the guts, silence me. Then this nation knows what to do to you. Ha, the issue of being afraid of the square or not... Be afraid, brother.

Look, we are rehearsing in those squares right now. You are watching the trailer in 81 provinces, the trailer. I will make you watch the horror movie. Whatever happens to those who don't get worse than you... Whatever happens to those who don't make you watch the horror movie. You are watching the trailer with 2 million people. The day will come, look, don't try to eliminate the ballot box. You will go with the ballot box like a gentleman. Here is November 2 in the middle. If you don't put a ballot box on November 2, I will put a ballot box in November. Whether I put it or not, we will see together.

No, if you try to take the ballot box out of hand, we will save it with the same hands we established the ballot box with. Those hands are the hands of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, of İsmet Paşa. Those are the hands that first saved the country, and then governed it not with a sword, a shield, a rifle, but with a ballot box because we won. Whatever struggle was given until that ballot box was established, that struggle is given so that that ballot box is protected. After that, you watch those democracy squares in Turkey from the television just like you watched the square in Egypt.”

“IF YOU ARE A KASIMPAŞA TOUGH GUY, I AM WAITING FOR THE ELECTION!”

“We are not threatening anyone with a coup. We are not threatening anyone with brute force. But if someone attempts a coup, if they try to take the ballot box, if they try to take the election out of the hands of this nation through some means, this nation will bring the ballot box back with its own hands. Let no one engage in extra bullying. The ballot box will come, you will all go. I am waiting for whoever has the heart for the election on November 2. I am waiting for the election for whoever says 'I am the first party.' I am waiting for the election for whoever trusts themselves. If you are a Kasımpaşa tough guy, I am waiting for the election. My brave, my lion is lying in Silivri.

Ban his poster, ban his photo, ban his banner, ban his voice. I will put one of his ID photos there, he will beat you again. Come on, Mayor Ekrem's ID photo against all the possibilities of your state. Do you have the courage? Come out in front of us, let's see who is tough, who is the master? Who is this nation electing? You cannot stay at the head of this business by relying on the state's army, the state's judge, prosecutor, MIT, whatever, with a setup, with whatever, with a plan, with a program. This country protects this ballot box just as it brought it, brother. Let me say this much, you are asking on the plane today, 'Özgür Özel is inviting the people to the street.' The day I did, I said 'I am inviting you to the street,' they came. You imposed a ban for 10 days, 1 million people gathered every night.”

“DON'T MAKE ME INVITE THIS NATION TO THE STREET!”

“I am now inviting the people to democracy actions in the squares where we have previously notified and where security measures have been taken around them to take action. I know the day I will invite them to the street. Think for yourself what state you will fall into that day. But don't make me invite this nation to the street. Pull yourself together.

Now, starting tomorrow, the Party Assembly tomorrow evening to discuss the process from now on, I am at the hearing in Bolu on Monday, the provincial head meeting after I arrive in the early hours, the meeting with all deputies in the evening, and subsequently the gathering of all decisions taken with the Central Executive Board and the evaluation of the process from now on. Today we are more determined than yesterday. Tomorrow we will be more determined than today.”

“I WON'T LET YOU SIT THERE WITH 29 PERCENT!”

“Everyone will do their calculations and planning accordingly. Whoever takes a step back is a dishonorable person. Whoever speaks a word less is a dishonorable person. Whoever lowers an inch, whoever bends an inch is a dishonorable person. If we speak a word less, you will silence this nation. If we go back one step, you will take this country back 100 years. If we bend an inch, you will make this nation kneel. You will respect the nation in front of this nation. You will kneel yourself. They elected you for 24 years. You didn't say thank you once. They didn't elect you once, you are making them miserable. You are taking away their right to vote. You are taking the mayors they elected. You are putting the future President in prison. This is an important turning point in history.

In the process from now on, everyone should watch their step. My last word to Erdoğan. It hurt him a lot when the son of his old teacher, Erbakan teacher, also participated. I repeat. We will not let you sit there with 29 percent, Erdoğan. I won't let you sit there with 29 percent. Don't be comfortable at all, don't trust your apparatuses, don't look at the sycophants around you. Someone is undermining you. Someone is boiling the pot. Someone is giving you gas, saying 'Nothing will happen, you do this, you do that.' There is a nation greater than you. What the nation says will happen. We are where the nation says.”

News Source: 12punto