Important statements from Özgür Özel: He evaluated Bilal Erdoğan's potential candidacy

Özel, on SÖZCÜ TV duringthebroadcasthe participatedin,made He made striking and noteworthy assessments.

CHP Chairman Özel's statements The prominentremarks are asfollows:

Truly, the year 2023was the yearwhen the greatest sorrow wasexperienced: the May 14 and 28 elections. Then November 5waswith our congress, it became a year of hope. 2024 was a year of success, a year of victory. With the party becoming the leading party after 47 years, Turkey's mayors who will serve 65 percent of the populationtaking office..

We entered the year 2025withgreat hopesaoutcomes.There were also many thingsthat would raise our hopes. We had conducted a survey study at the end of the year; November–In the months of December,we looked at all the municipalities that could be measured by surveys.In total, we found our satisfaction rate with the mayoralties to be59 percent. The AK Party had already found 61 percent for their own municipalities.already.

Whatever happened, it probably happened after that. They made a decision and said: “These people are marchingtoward power.” And they are marching in the same way we areAs we know, there is a march from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality to the government. It exists thanks to the success of the mayorship. Moreover, in the pastTheir path from mayoralties to powerwasmuch more limited compared to the municipalities we won. In our municipalities,there is not just one Ekrem İmamoğlu; there is Mersin, Adana, Antalya, andall four corners of Turkey.And there is the AK Party's ownopenprovinces and districts that they could not even imagine losingwe won. This must havemade them very uncomfortable.

The year 2025 began with an attack. Akın Gürlek's appointment as Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor, the appointment of a trustee to Esenyurt, the Beşiktaş operation... Tit started likethat and we entered into a struggle. In January, there was a series of attacks that also bothered us. They started by asking people to whom Mayor Ekrem sold apartments twenty yearsago, “Did you pay money under thetable?”

"WE WILL DETERMINE OUR CANDIDATE AND RUN THEWELL"

We also convened all our boards one after another and said in late January: "Since that is the case, let us determine our presidential candidate early. Both TTurkey should enter the early election agenda, and we should determine our candidateand moveforward.”

We made the decision for a primary.They also made their decisions. The day before the day the primarywas to be held,the diploma cancellation arrived. On the morning of that dayat dawn, they came to Mayor Ekrem's house with thousands of police officers. Then, during our primary election day, for four days, it was like mafiabusiness... In the mafia, there aresuch meaningfulmessages, you know; they take him into custody four days before the primary election,and hold him for four days. We were at the ballotbox.the day we put it in the ballotbox, they put him in Silivri. As the ballotboxes arebeingopened, the doors of Silivri are closing.

Yes. Look, let me come to the end. For example, when is the trial? March 9. What day is March 9?The day Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected as a member of parliament from Siirt.the day he went to the Prime Ministry.I mean, they aretrying to send messagesand set the tone with numbers, days, and subconscioustactics. They have adopted the symbolic messages of the Italian mafia,and they are governing the country with knock-off mafia methods. It is truly unbelievable.This is not how things should be done.

They arrested Mayor Ekrem thatday, but on that sameday, 15.5 million people went to the ballotbox anddid a very important job. Throughout the month of February, we had around 1 million 300–400 thousandpeople.to our members, wecalled out: 'Come, register, vote; come, choose, make history,' wesaid. In the lastfour days, wetold our members to 'inform, encourage, and accompany them to the ballot box,' launching a massive campaignturnitthis i.

"WE HAVE REACHED A POINT OF NO RETURN"

On March 23, 15.5 million people determined the Presidential candidate. At this mofrom I attach great importance to: It may not be noticed today, but in the future, presidentialcandidates in Turkey or if we return to the parliamentary systemreturnedtoprimeminister candidates and party leaders will be determined in a way that cannot easily be turned backfrom a processwe have come to the ballot box.

The ballot box is important, the primary is important, but nowit is being placed before the nation. This presidentialsystem must continue; we can no longer turn back from letting the nation determine our presidential candidate.Our rivals cannot fall behind this either. Don't lookat it now; on one side there is Tayyip Erdoğan, the natural candidate. But this, Tis a gain for Turkishdemocracy.

When we wrote the public poll into ourpartybylaws years ago,this was a very advanced stepnow. We didn't know how it would happen either. But wehad heard there were public pollsin the world; one daywe wrote that we would do ittoo. We made the decision on March 19, and on March 23, we helda public poll.Ferdi Zeyrek

was the result. childhood friend. Who has been with us since our childhood, Gulso, where we were born in Manisa,grewup, where both Ferdi and I were borthemunici pality of ourdistrict of Şehzadelerhadbeene lected. Theselectionsthree months after my treatment, surgery, and therapy, it flared up again.Ferdi, that day... very worried, "Brother, the situation today iits, increased the a bad thing to happen" he was saying. Then first Ferdi left. After that Gour silleri is gone.

Güney Temiz, my head of department in Manisastatedhe . He is forty-fi ve yearsof theconfi dence and left it to us. The y of our partyoyearsoftheburdenisontheshoulders we draw, wewithdraw ourownswe, for months for years in strugg-I havea Dilek Hanım who is waiting forthe wreath money.Shealso has an only child whohas passed away.closed their eyes. In other words, bigpains. Pains. Pas.We have entered 2026. Manisa Metropolitan Municipality's AlaWe lost another coordinator in the city to a heart attack. This is The deaths devastated us all. Of course, we must also remember brother Altan in the meantime. A large number of our party members, previous provincial chairsourr, our deputy... Whichever one I mention, they are all filled with such painful stories of yit became.it became.

Thereis the issue of allocating time to İpek.Thereis the issue of allocating time to İpek. İpekin the year 2001in was born. I in the year 2007 Icame to Ankara. Since that day, I have already been againstharmingTurkey, and I have beenin a ststrugglewe have. Healthy be, Very mature child. Against mother, father, familyvery understandingis. Once a month if we can make it, we make it, opwe found the opportunityto viewpointwe are.

On one hand, thisexperienced sadnessestoovercomethesedifficulties,tobe able to endure them; on the other hand, there is agreat responsibilitystruggle is necessary.struggle is necessary. We have held 78-79 rallies so far,and carried out actions in the squaresto realwe established. We are forming, we are struggling. Nowmore than a matter of political competition, of political struggle, very much aissue of existence or non-existence, wearea ll of us arehungryfrom. Every thing istaken intnding, lawimizi that wealmost postponed eventheholding of, toourownviewmdugumum a surece dönüştü.

SIX-PARTY TABLESTATEMENT

First, the Six-PartyTab le issue very well-intentioned emerging, setting out, but in its final stage, the party iwhich we also discussed within ourselves, of course there are objectionsour s elf-criticismour criticism andcriticisms we madebutthesearethings thatwe At the November 4-5 Convention, he left behindperi odods. In any case, at that convention, this maThere were those who criticizedandthose who defended it; thatdaythedayitselfwas the agenda and it is over. I have no time to go back to those matters.

But the actIt was already astructure like this:I was on a livebroadcast on CNNTürk, and they were asking me before the referendum, "What kindof system does this bring?" The ruling his party says it will "return to a two-partysystem." I say: This system may return to a two- party structure, butwhen you divide the face in two, it becomes fifty-fifty; for those left behind, it does not guarantee anything. This alsomakes some parties cstrengthens them, butmakes some partiesindispensable, turning them into key parties. I am saying this on ŞirinPayzın's program. Shereminded me of it already. "You areyou saidso."

At the point we have reached, we must see that the system itself is problematic and flawed. Weneed to seeit. When it was first implemented, the10 percent election thresholdis now7 percent. If you are below 7percent, you are out, but tobe elected, you need 51 percent. This is both in terms of voterbehaviorandin terms of political parties' pin terms ofmanagement it bringsa quite challenging process along with it.

Where did we partways, where did we issue warnings, where were we proven right,where we needcriticism; we discussed these. Regarding the upcomingelections, Isay this: Iam saying: From the veryvisited all the leadersand I alsosaid. Someif youwin the electionsyou say, "a good method, let's continue." SomeIf you lose theelections, you say, "We made a mistake, let's abandon it." This last election was an election where both rights and wrongs were committed. It was an election. Theto continue the truths, we must stay away from mistakes.

One of thebiggest mistakeswas this: "The era ofcoalitions will end" was said. However, I say thisI said: Coalitions used to be discussedafter the election, now they will bediscussed before the election.That is exactly what happened. One election ended, and the next day the alliance for the next electionbegan to be discussed: The Table of Six.

This structure waslike this: First it was four parties, then it became six.You chain six runners together at the waist and say, "go ahead and run." Everyone is both a support and an obstacle to one another. There is good intention, but in practice, if one makes astatement,it forces the other. The leaders sitting down once a month to constantly discuss the management system a structure thatthey discussed emerged. However,

there was a consensusof 2300—2400 articles. But the only thing that remained in memorywas "gstrengthenedparliamentary system." You go to Anatolia, the citizen says "I am hungry," and you say "parliamentary system." People are wondering, "How will these six leadersgovern the country after the election?"will govern?" question has grown and legitimate concernhasturned.

At the pointwe have reached today, noNo political leader is saying"let's re-establish the Table of Six." Everyone needs to run in their own lane, to the extent of their ownstrength; they need toexplain themselves to the public. If there is a need for an alliance, at a reasonable time, during theelection periodit is discussed when the time comes. But parties entering theelection on each other's lists and what happenedafterward is something completely different. Let me say this very clearly: The event that happenedyesterday is unacceptable.

There was an alliance, together we received votes from thevoters saying we willgovern the country.I have nothing to say aboutthe transitions within thealliance. But in Eskişehir, they said whatever came to their mind about the AK Party

andA deputy elected by saying so-and-so goes to the AK Party immediately after the election. Receiving 80 thousand anti-AK Partyvotes and taking them to the AK Partyand the AK Party then makeshim theEskişehirMetropolitan Municipality mayoral candidate. This is, semocking the immigrant. Let us alsocorrect this: People ask "How many more CHP members," but the vast majority of those whojoined theAK Partyare not CHP members. Those who were elected from the CHP listfriends from the Future Party and the DEVA Party.There is one personwho was elected from the CHPand left; that is the Mersin deputy.

When they became a candidate, Mersin rose up, our friends objected and warnings were made. Disciplinary pprocesses werecarried out but they were pardoned. In the end, they went on pro-government channelsand reached the point of saying, "You cannot expel me from the party." It turns out their intention was clear from the beginning. The AK Party has a transfer campaign: For the incoming deputy, a term isguaranteed. This personbecause there is no possibility of being re-electedin the CHP or in Mersin, he has taken advantageof this.Let me make thisclear.

I amsayingLet mesay this: We do not have a single member of parliament who comes from the roots of the CHP, who is truly a CHP member, and then went to the AK Party. God forbid, if it were to happen, we would barely endure that suffering.

After the transfers, no one contactedus. But thatviewpointdevelopments also gained clarity. There was a meeting between the New Path Group and the Future Group, and all of them together discussed, all of them under abig party roofto unite under the heat there is information that there are preparationsfor it. They might be referring to that. There is no contact with us.

Our situation was as follows: May God have mercy on him, our deputy Hasan Bitmez lost his life at the podiumwhen he lost his groupdissolved. Even before the funeral was held, the group's collapse... Our hearts did notagreeto this. A fewthree monthswe gave Ali Fazıl Kasap to his position. That took a fewmonths, a yearto find, then he returned.We did this so that the group's speaking rights in Parliamentwould not be blocked. Currently, Parliament in their arithmetic, they already have 20 deputies. Furthermore, there are deputies who remain independent or within their ownparties. As far as I have been able tofollow, solutions will be found from here.If such a needarises again we will evaluate. On these issues, the Republican People's Party has never failed the test.

As for the voter issue, it is like this... This is an issue that can be resolved through legal regulation not.Every legal regulation has a trick, a way to circumvent it. This is a matter ofmentality. "What did I say to get votes, and where am I now? AmI betraying the voter by movingtheir vote here?" The issue is This is the essence of it. Everyone will evaluate thisin their own conscience.

But let me saythis: Our political history is full of dozens of examplesfrom recent history. Ekrem İmamoğlu won by a margin of 13,600 votes, and his certificate of election was cancelled. 45 d ays later...after the gap widened to 806 thousand.How can this be explainedbya campaign? I saw this on the ground:Uncle Hacısays, "I have never voted for you in my life, and I won't again, but I will vote for Ekrem just thisonce." Why? "Because justice wasserved, my child"he says. A grocer in Fatih... These examples are 0 45—50 gin the daily process we have all experiencedmany times.

This nation is very different. The thing I worry about the least is the removal of the ballot box. There is no such possibility in Turkey. This nation every will endure anything but will not abandonthe ballot box, which is the greatest achievement of the Republic entrusted by Atatürk.They did not abandon it on the night of July 15 either. Kenan Evren waselected with 93 percent of the vote, but not the person he pointed to,but Turgut They electedÖzal.This nation does not bow downto oppression. Just as they gave votes to Tayyip Erdoğan, they gavean equally harsh lessonwhen he had the election cancelled.

On March 31, the state and the nation faced off, and the nation won. TRT became the television of the ruling power, and Anadolu Agency became the agency of an alliance. They gave us one minute, and them one thousand five hundredminutes... They made specialized sergeantscast votes in otherdistricts andbrought them back. The nationall of thesesaw andsaid, "We need to teach them a lesson" he said.

'I HAVE NEVER SEEN A POLL LIKE THE ONE IN AYDIN IN MY LIFE'IN MY LIFE'I HAVE NEVER SEEN'

I have never seen a polllike the oneIsaw in Aydın in mylife. Iwish a ballot box would come.I wish a ballot box would come. TI also proposed to Erdoğan: Let's put the ballot box in places where the municipal council majority was won through games in Aydın and Istanbul. Let's open the electionI won todebatedI am saying. If they have the courage, let them come.

In Aydın, the CHP's vote isclose to 70 percentit appears.Name the candidateX, it makes no difference. Those who voted for the AK Partyin the last electionthe votersays, "I will vote for the CHP."This is a very strong reaction. The nationdeletes those who deceive it from its ledger at the first opportunity. It is that clear.

For the country to normalizeThe situation is this: In the village of Hacerler in Manisa, the CHP's neighborhood representative and the AK Party's neighborhood representativeattend each other'sweddingsand hold funerals together.But in Ankara, at Anıtkabir, the leaders do not shake hands. They do not shake hands at martyrs' funerals. Is this normal?

During holidays, theresentful makepeace. But political parties do not exchange holiday greetings with each other. This is not normal. The CHP, withwas the only party that celebrated the holiday with allparties. This is the norm. Todayeveryone receives a pension of 18,900 liras.It is the same for CHP supporters and AK Party supporters alike. The normal thing is for the pensioner not to vote for the government that crushes them. But the voter isconstantly given this message: "You arehungry,you are poor, but the flag, the call to prayer, and the homeland are in danger."

However, we have no problem with the flag or the call to prayer. Our problem is with hunger. With retirees, minimum wage earners, with workers. I am the chairman of a social democratic party. The rich worldnot their enemy. More should earnbut they should pay fair taxes. 88 percent of the taxshould not be paid by the poor, and 11 percent by the rich. My concern is the retirees, workers,andyoung people. For young people to be able to dream in this country. Doing politics based on identities is abnormal. Deceiving voters withtall tales is abnormal.

We are in favor of good dialogue, but Tayyip Erdoğan does not want this. We called and visited during the first holiday. We also called during the second holiday. But the axe drew. We will not stick our heads out for a manwielding an axe. No. When I waselectedhe did not call, but when I became the leading party, it fell to me to callandsayI said. It was extremely honorable, befittingthe leading party, awe carried out a process. When he saw that this process benefited the CHP,hetook an aggressive stance.

Our concern is not to fight with Tayyip Erdoğan, but to reach out to AK Party and MHP voters. For this,ErdoğanWe must overcome the obstacle. The way to do this is through the Presidential candidacy office, policy boards, gshadow ministries, a positive agenda, and mobilizing 2 million members.

I cannot reach them on myown, but 2 million CHP members, and the 15.5 million people who signed for Ekrem İmamoğlu can all reach their neighbors, siblings, daughters-in-law, and sons-in-law. AK Party supporters do not come from outer space; they are the children of this nation. For this suffering to endfor everyone to be included in the process.

A respected owner of a polling company expert explains. In Turkey, "phonesare being tapped"thDo you thinkso?” they ask; 65 percent say “yes.” When asked “Is your phone being tapped?”75 percentanswer “yes.”They also ask Çiçi: “What do you do for a living?” I sellpastries....is a street vendor. The man is sellingpastriesbut he thinks his phone is beingtapped.

Now, these surveys are conducted by phone. When people answer these surveys, they take certain risksinto account.ing. There are those who say, "Let them come andtake it," but there are also those whodearly lovetheir grandchildren. Their grandchild will enter an interview in two years, they want to be a police officer; there are teacher appointments, there are other expectations. For that reason, that parWe do not knowif the visible 25–28 percent segment will loosenor not.

The AK Party also struggled for yearsto understand this 25 percent.Perhaps God will grant it to us, we will be in power for years, and this time we will say, "How does this 20 percent of the AK Party, which remains despite everything,stand?why they are standing still?” We don't know that either. Because perhaps that 20 percent has other concerns that wecannot eliminate or understand. The real issue that needs to beseen is this; the issue of understanding the voter. But for this, we need to experience a general election.election.

I know this: The voter'strue sentiment and preference are reflected in the ballot boxmore than in polls. LocalWe saw this very clearly in the field. For example, I was saying we would take Manisa.They were asking, "How will we take it?" I was saying, "With45 percent," and we took it with 60 percent.We were saying we would take Denizli, it was appearing as42 percent. Mayor Nuri wastelling me: "Mr. Chairman, you measured42 percentbut"day, but it seems to me that 55-60 percent of Denizliwill vote for it.” My mind wasset on it. That is why one must seethat polls can have amargin of error.But as you said, if there is a rigid base, it is necessary to correctly analyze what their sentiment is.

POLL RESULTSHE ANNOUNCEDTHEM

If we ask, "What is the CHP's vote share today?" there are three types of research.In studies that are close to the AK Party or distant from the CHP, it is accepted that the CHP is the leading party, but the margin is 1.5–2 points.is being shown. Standing in the middle in companies, this difference is 3.5–4 points. Also, we have a systemthat we worked within the local elections.

We have a measurement andevaluation unit in the party. The ones on the marketA call text has been sent toall seriouscompanies.With a logic of television and advertising, a brief was given first,and then bids were received. Initially, work was done with eight firms, those who could not meet the specifications were eliminated, and it continued with six firms. As far as I know, currently, work is being donewith eight firms. Ourmeasurement and

evaluation system, without knowing who is calling whom,our localgovernment report card.based on monthly reports from polling companies. In these reports, undecided voters aredistributed, and the CHPappears to be around 34 to 35 percent. Whenundecidedvoters are distributed with some effort, just as Mr. Tayyip said, "Shake up the municipalities," they are asked, "If there were an election this Sunday,would you vote?" Those who say "I would" are then pressed with, "Who would you vote for?"ing. There, weare in the39–41 percentband.

Based on mylocal electionexperience, Isee this and say: Today, the ballotIf an election were held, the Republican People's Party wouldreceive between 40 and 43 percentof the vote. Furthermore, let mesay this; when you look at the average of all polls in Turkey,in the average of the last 25 years, the CHP appears approximately 3.5to 4 points ahead of the AK Party.

"HungerAs for the question of whether thenormalization process benefited the government,we do not observe that it has brought any significant benefit or harm to the government.The Nationalist Movement Party initiallysuffered a loss, and these votes shiftedto the AK Party.After the AK Party clarified its position, some of these votes returned,and someits name has also gone to other places. There is a general erosion in the ruling bloc, this process is continuing, but there is nodirectmeasurementthat clearlylinks this to the opening process. Somein parties, significant moves, some significant thouughts emerged, but openIt is difficult to saythat the normalizationprocess alonecreated such a result.It is difficultto say.

"PASSISSUES WEREDISCUSSED INDETAIL"

There were rallies where the cost of living was discussed at length, primarily for retirees and minimumwage earners. Like the rally on January 3rd,in -3 degree weather in Çankırı.

Let me saythis much: since the year 2009, the bushas been...talking fromthe bus. Ihave seen such angry pupils from the bus for the first time. I mean, there is anger, and it is an unquenchable anger. That is why lastweek in the group, and this week as well, I spokeopenlyandclearlyI said: We are on the verge of amajor social explosion.

To these people, this injusticeyou seeisthe 18,975 lira pension...Now when you say it,everyone does their own mathis doing it. Very briefly, put everything else aside, Ms. İpek. When the AK Party first came to power, a pension was one and ahalf times the minimum wage. Today, the minimum wage that we do notapprove of, that we protest, and that we call a starvation wageis 28 thousand liras.

If he hadn't touched it at all and had set it at one and a half times the minimum wage, a retiree would be receiving 42,000 liras today. And you are giving them 19,000 liras, 18,975 liras. Now, from a standard of living of 42,000 liras, which is not enough either, according to uswe said a minimum wage of 39,000 liras.This means 56,000 liras for the retiree based on that calculation.

Now 56,000 liras... What the CHP sees asright,thepoint the party has reachedIf thecurrent scaleis not changed, aretiree who should be receiving 42 thousand liras today with one and a half times the minimum wage is struggling on 19 thousand liras right now.

ÖZGÜO N BILAL ERDOGAN'S CANDIDACY STASTATEMENT

To say we “would like” to see Bilal Erdoğan as an opponent in anelection is one thing, to say we “would not like” to is another. We have made our candidate clear: I am the chairman of a party and inTurkey, a chairman has the opportunity to be a candidate. So, when I say “I am a candidate,” this is a natural candidacy.Mr. Babacan, for example, haspassed

Mr. Babacan, for example, haspassedin previous years, such athing wassaid.The chairman of the New Welfare Party says he wants to be a candidate. The esteemedChairman of the Anahtar Party says that she could be a presidential candidate, that she wants to be, and that her party will be a candidate.These arethingsall of which are extremely respectable and undisputed realities.

I could have been a candidate. If I had said “I am a candidate,” there would have been no problem. I said I would not be a candidate.I could have nominated someone as well. We entered an election together,and for the first time in Turkish political history, a party chairman has changed in a multi-candidate race.One of the two architects of that successnominated the other.This is a significant development.if he wanted to, no one would have said anything.

We did not do that either.We could have determined our candidatewith the entire MYK, we did not. We could have determined it from the parliamentary group, we did not. Everyone'sopinionwasWe saidlet's takeit. We said primary election. We had 1 million 400 thousand existing members.We were not satisfied, wemade a call, to increase the membership to 2 millionWe brought it out. We were attacked, we set up solidarity ballot boxes: 15.5 million people voted.

Now the situation is this: This candidate is neither my candidate nor the party's candidate. This candidate is the nation's candidate. With 15.5 million signatures, the candidatehas shownsomeone we are looking at. That is whyneither the party nor I,not even the candidate themselves has the right, in my opinion, to withdraw.They do not. Because Ekrem İmamoğlu's candidacy is the nation's candidacy: The nation has consented to Ekrem İmamoğlu's candidacy, the nation has nominated him.On the other side, the AK Party's candidate is being debated: Will it be his son? Will it be his son-in-law? Will it be his minister?

Which of the ministers who are undermining each other will it be? Or will it be one of the former ministers? There is such a

debate going on: For me, watching this debate isa pleasureto watch.isevil.

My call toMr. Erdoğan is this: Are you a candidate? If you are a candidate, comeand face us. If you are not a candidate, determine your candidate and comeCome face us. We are ready with our candidate and our ballot boxes. We are waiting for the duty to solve the problems of this nation. And for that duty, we are waiting for an election.

News Source: 12punto