İmamoğlu answers question about the morning of March 19 for the first time! 'When the police showed up at the door that day...'

Ekrem İmamoğlu, the CHP's presidential candidate and Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), who has been detained since March 23, gave an interview from Silivri Prison.

Speaking to T24 columnist Cansu Çamlıbel, İmamoğlu spoke clearly about his presidential candidacy.

Stating that "My candidacy is continuing in a definitive manner," İmamoğlu noted that an election in which he cannot participate or compete freely would be an election in which "the legitimacy of the President ends."

Describing the diploma case as a 'black stain in legal history,' İmamoğlu said:

"The diploma case is one of the biggest black stains our legal history has ever seen. The state opens a quota; I submit my documents completely and earn the right to a lateral transfer. Let alone my undergraduate degree, I even completed a master's degree at the same university. While doing all of this, I trusted the state's institutions and its justice. As a 19-year-old, if we don't trust the state's announcements, documents, and approvals, who are we to trust, for God's sake? We have always known the state to be reliable; we learned that it protects and looks after its citizens, its youth, and its elderly. However, unfortunately, today a handful of ambitious people are trying to take away my 35-year-old diploma by exploiting our state's judiciary and institutions. It seems that when you become a presidential candidate, what is lawful is sought to be made unlawful. This conspiracy is a clear black stain. It is not just my rights that are at stake, but the honor, dignity, and reliability of the state's judiciary and institutions. God willing, we will not allow this black stain to be cast upon our political history and legal values.

As for the candidacy issue, I did not become a presidential candidate by my own will, but by the will of our 15.5 million citizens. The nation gives the authority, and the nation takes it back. The diploma case has not yet been concluded. My candidacy is continuing in a definitive manner. However, regardless of the outcome, the Republican People's Party (CHP) will fulfill its duty to our nation to establish the nation's government. My dear Chairman Özgür Özel, with whom I am honored to be a companion, and my dear Mayor Mansur Yavaş are important assets of Turkey. The Republican People's Party is a party of such quality and caliber that it can produce many presidential candidates. Believe me, we have no worries about who will be the candidate! However, I am very curious about how those in power will bypass the term limit in our Constitution. If they insist on candidacy, they should not have harmed the will of our 15.5 million people, and they should not have been afraid to face me at the ballot box."

'IF THEY INDULGE IN THE FANTASY OF 400 DEPUTIES, THEY WILL BE WAITING A LONG TIME'

In the continuation of his remarks, İmamoğlu also made striking statements regarding the AKP's target of 400 deputies.

"If they indulge in the fantasy of 400 deputies, they will be waiting a long time. Let them know that we are waiting with excitement and enthusiasm for the day the referendum ballot box is placed before the nation. An election in which Ekrem İmamoğlu cannot participate or compete freely would be an election in which the legitimacy of the President ends. It would turn into an election where tens of millions become candidates in place of Ekrem İmamoğlu."

***

"Following the results of the 2023 elections, together with my friends from my party and my close working team, we decided not to remain spectators to things continuing as they were and to quickly make comprehensive preparations for the next elections. In this context, we took steps to prepare our party for the 2028 elections, while also beginning to X-ray all of Turkey's fundamental problems and develop policy proposals to resolve them. You know the result of the steps we took within the party: Following the change in management, we became the leading party by a wide margin in the 2024 local elections, and according to all reliable public opinion polls, we continue to be the leading party. Our work on how Turkey should be governed began immediately after the 2023 elections. By coming together with hundreds of experts and academics, we developed proposals and projects that will bring permanent solutions to Turkey's problems. Our work continues under the umbrella of the Presidential Candidate Office. What I mean is, we have been working since 2023. We know Turkey's problems and how it should be governed. We are ready to govern Turkey. We are just waiting for the elections.

From the very first day we come to power, of course, we will take steps to provide some relief to those most victimized by the current government, especially low-income earners, retirees, the youth, and women. However, I want everyone to be sure of this; we will not spend Turkey's time just to put a bandage on our problems, but to solve them permanently. If I were to answer your question from this perspective, I would put justice, the economy, and education in the top three areas that we need to address urgently and develop permanent solutions for by making radical reforms.

In this context, from the very first day we come to power, or even from the very first hour, we will take action to re-establish justice in this country and make our judiciary independent and impartial once again. On the first day we come to power, in my first speech, I will address our judges and prosecutors and say: 'We are upholding the rule of law and the supremacy of law. When making your decisions, have no reference other than the laws and your conscience!' Of course, we will not just talk. To make the judiciary independent and justice accessible, we will change the structure of the HSK (Council of Judges and Prosecutors) and put an end to the reassignment of judges and prosecutors while cases are ongoing.

Our country's deepest problem is poverty. No member of our nation deserves to live below the hunger threshold. Again, from the very first day we come to power, we will begin working to create a citizenship income program where our retirees, minimum wage earners, and no family will remain below the hunger threshold.

Again, from the very first day we come to power, we will work to make industry the backbone of prosperity, employment, and development once again, and to revitalize the production economy. We will strive not only to revitalize production but also to make it innovative. To make all sectors of the economy, especially industry, innovative, efficient, and sustainable, we will establish the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the Turkey National Development Fund, and the Turkey Breakthrough Office.

Today, everyone accepts this; in the current state of the world, without knowledge and without science, countries and states cannot be strong and resilient. Based on this, education will be at the top of the areas we will address as soon as we come to power. Our promise in education is this: We will make quality education free everywhere in Turkey, and free education quality, and we will provide our children with quality, free education that imparts skills alongside knowledge. We will not view education as a field of ideological conflict. We will make state schools the best schools in the country once again."

WAS THERE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE OPERATION?

İmamoğlu categorically denied the allegations of "having prior knowledge of the operation" raised within the scope of the investigation conducted against him. Emphasizing that the government's pressure and judicial moves against him have been ongoing for a long time, İmamoğlu said that despite this, no one could have foreseen that a dawn operation would be carried out on the home of a metropolitan mayor.

Stating that the video taken on the morning of the operation was not planned in advance, İmamoğlu expressed that he felt the need to speak to the nation at that moment, that he adopted the principle of doing politics with the people under all circumstances, and that he left his home by entrusting himself to the conscience of the nation.

İmamoğlu expressed the following:

"The government's attacks on us and the obstacles it tried to create through the judiciary began on the very first day we were elected. We were faced with a government mentality that first tried to show an election they couldn't win as if they had won it by hanging billboards, and then canceled the election because, for some reason, only one of the four ballot papers put in the same envelope was deemed invalid.

After that, lawsuits, attempts to impose political bans... Which one should I count? Therefore, of course, we had assessments that the intensity of the attacks would increase, especially with the start of our primary election campaign. However, in a country like Turkey, which has a deep-rooted state tradition and strong political experience, no one would think or foresee that a dawn operation would be carried out on the home of a metropolitan mayor who had won the elections by a wide margin with great favor just a year ago, accompanied by hundreds of police officers. I saw that astonishment and embarrassment on the faces of the police brothers who came there. My wife Dilek also described that morning. If you look at the sadness in her eyes and the tremor in her voice, it is possible to understand the emotion we experienced. In this respect, let me say that it was not a decision made in advance. It was a scene that should not have been inflicted on our beautiful country and our nation. Let me emphasize it once again. Those who did this have been condemned in the conscience of the nation. They will always remain so!

I am a politician who always prefers to speak with my nation during moments of crisis. When they canceled the 2019 elections, and on the morning after the night we lost the 2023 elections, my first task was to speak with my nation. On that morning, which will go down in our democratic history like a black stain, I decided to shoot the video at that moment. I have always adopted the principle of doing politics together with the nation. I have never leaned my back on anything other than the nation. That day, when the police showed up at the door, I didn't want to leave without sharing my troubles with my nation. I was performing a public duty representing their will, and I had also put forward my candidacy for another duty. Therefore, I entrusted myself to the most reliable place, the conscience of the nation, and left my home that way. I also saw how right I was to trust. I am grateful for all their love, support, and their defense of justice, democracy, and this country."

News Source: 12punto