Özgür Özel speaks at the April 23 special session of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey: 'We will give our lives, but we will not bow down!'

The General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) convened with a special agenda under the chairmanship of Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş to mark the 106th anniversary of the opening of the Parliament and the April 23 National Sovereignty and Children's Day.

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel delivered a speech at the General Assembly.

Özgür Özel made the following statements in his speech:

"I celebrate our April 23 National Sovereignty and Children's Day and greet you all with my deepest respect and affection as the Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), founded by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which is one of the world's most deep-rooted parties with a 103-year history that founded the Republic of Turkey and introduced our country to democracy and multi-party political life.

Exactly 106 years ago, our Gazi Assembly, under whose roof we stand, was opened with the participation of 115 representatives who believed wholeheartedly in independence. This nation did not wake up easily to the morning of April 23, 1920. The obstacles on the path to the proclamation of the Republic were not easily overcome either. Our nation paid a very heavy price in this march where it won its freedom and independence. But in the end, the future of the nation was saved by the determination and resolve of the nation itself. From here, I once again commemorate our national struggle heroes, especially Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, with gratitude and mercy.

Today, we are experiencing two great honors together. First; we are celebrating our National Sovereignty Day, the 106th birthday of our Gazi Assembly, where it was guaranteed and registered that sovereignty in the lands of the Republic of Turkey belongs not to single men, padishahs, or sultans, but only to the nation. Second, we are all experiencing the pride of this special day being gifted to all the children of the world. Happy holiday to us all.

"OUR CHILDREN ARE UNDER HEAVY ATTACK"

However, it is painful that both our national sovereignty, to which the two holidays are dedicated, and our children are under heavy attack; neither is safe. Today, 8.5 million of our children in our country suffer from poverty. Among OECD countries, we are in second place after Costa Rica in child poverty.

In Turkey, poverty is now inherited from families to children. Children of poor families start life with gaps they cannot close. Accessing quality and safe education has turned into a class issue. If a municipality does not offer free or affordable daycare facilities, that poor child's early development does not begin, and if there are deficiencies that need to be identified, they cannot even be noticed. If a municipality has not provided nutritional support or free drinking water to that poor child, they are deprived of these as well. On one side, there are children who go to school with private shuttles and are fed with dietitian-approved menus.

On the other side; there are children who, if they do not receive social assistance, carry hopelessness and hunger instead of a lunchbox. One runs to their meal when the bell rings at their private school; the other puts the half-toasted sandwich they bought from the canteen on a tab. While one drinks clean water from a glass bottle to their heart's content, the other has to put their mouth to the toilet faucet. While one studies in schools where security guards wait at the door, the other fears being the target of an armed attacker. Gangs and drug dealers roam in front of the schools of poor children. Those gangs give those unhappy children an identity and recruit them.

Every year, an average of 180,000 children get involved in crime. In fact, as we experienced in its most painful form in Şanlıurfa and Kahramanmaraş, children commit murders. Injustice in income, injustice in taxes, injustice in courts, and injustices in social life lead to social collapse.

If our children are not in school, they die in workplace accidents this time. They are turned into cheap labor in vocational training centers (MESEM) under unsafe conditions. The number of children who died in workplace accidents in the last 13 years has reached 852. In this country, some are safe, and some are not, friends. In our country, which has been governed by a single party for 24 years, children are not safe. Because the gears of this dark order turn not to keep children safe, but to keep positions safe. We are engaged in politics so that these gears turn in favor of the nation and the poor, and we are fighting for this.

WHICH DEMOCRACY SHALL WE TALK ABOUT?

Our first holiday is National Sovereignty Day... Look, I have the parliamentary minutes from 1921 in my hand. At that time, the Law on Fundamental Organization (Teşkilat-ı Esasiye) was being discussed. During the discussions, it was proposed to give the District Governor (Nahiye Müdürü), that is, an executive official of a sub-district, the authority to detain for between 24 hours and 1 week. Bolu Deputy Tunalı Hilmi Bey objected to this. He said; if the authority to detain is given not to an independent and impartial person but to a District Governor, he will detain his political rivals. Tunalı Hilmi Bey said, “For example, even an hour of imprisonment for a notable like me, let alone a week, would be enough to destroy my dignity. They will create false witnesses and throw me inside.”

So the issue is this; the authority to detain and arrest a citizen or a politician cannot be left in the hands of another politician. What Tunalı Hilmi Bey described from this podium has become the reality of this country 105 years later, with the March 19 Coup. Someone who was a judge before, despite all the decisions they made being overturned by the Constitutional Court, was made a Deputy Minister and brought into politics,

And this time, in violation of the Constitution, they are appointed as Chief Public Prosecutor and have those who are rivals to their party imprisoned. When they complete their duty, they receive a "well done" again and are made a Minister from the Justice and Development Party this time. The person who was a prosecutor one day and a Minister the next makes their first statement at a provincial chairmen's meeting and says, 'I will continue to work for the success of our party.'

Just as Tunalı Hilmi Bey described, with secret witnesses and false witnesses, our Presidential Candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu and dozens of our elected mayors have been in prison for more than 1 year. While this coup is evident, and the lawlessness and unjust enrichment of those who carried out the coup have been proven, what law, what democracy are we going to talk about here now?

We are in a process of a Terror-Free and Democratic Turkey. Despite all the attacks on our party, and even the demand for a closure case to be filed, we defend this process for the peace and survival of this nation, seeing the threats in the Middle East and knowing the importance of the brotherhood of Turks and Kurds. And we expect it to reach success without wasting any more time. But this Parliament writes in its commission report that the appointment of trustees (kayyım) should end. Despite this, trustees are still sitting in the seats of 13 elected mayors.

"KNOW US WELL: WE WILL GIVE OUR LIVES, BUT WE WILL NOT BOW DOWN"

This Parliament writes in its commission report that the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights should be complied with. But these decisions are still not being complied with. The people of Hatay elected Can Atalay. They sent him to Parliament. Mr. Bahçeli had his name read out that day in his capacity as Speaker of the Parliament and called him to take the oath. But a local court, ignoring both the Constitutional Court and the Parliament, did not release Can Atalay from prison. Under these conditions, whose sovereignty of the nation are we going to talk about now?

5,000 police officers raided our Istanbul Provincial Headquarters. Deputies were beaten. Tear gas was fired at deputies in Bursa and Ankara. Now, what reputation of the deputies are we going to talk about here? Today, rumors ranging from a closure case against the Republican People's Party, which founded the Republic of Turkey, to nullity are being spread. If those who try to burn the house of this party succeed, how will we prevent this Parliament and this democracy from turning into ashes?

The tutelary powers that cast a shadow on democracy attack every day. This nation wakes up to an operation every morning. Know us well: We will give our lives, but we will not bow down. We are the party that founded the state; we will not surrender to a handful of coup plotters. Because; if we remain silent, our children will not remain silent. If we forget, history will not forget!

"SINCE MARCH 19, WE HAVE BEEN DEFENDING NOT OUR PARTY, BUT DEMOCRACY AS A FRONT"

But also know this: A very dirty and risky path is being opened in Turkey. One day, a crazed prosecutor who finds a secret witness can throw any slander at anyone they want. One day, someone who leads a civil court judge astray can seize the provincial headquarters of any political party. One day, someone who raids the Regional Court of Justice can remove the elected officials of a political party from office. They are playing with fire, dear friends. He who plays with fire burns his hand and burns his house. He who plays with the judiciary burns the future of the country.

That is why, since March 19, 2025, we have been defending not our Party as a position, but democracy as a front. We do not expect anyone to defend our Party. We expect all of you to defend the will of the nation you represent. Some want to liquidate politics entirely. We are separate parties. We can compete in the economy, transportation policies, and health services. But we cannot compete in the absence of justice and democracy. We expect you to defend the democratic environment where each of you can compete equally and freely.

Remember: Ask this nation, and it will give its life, it will give its child, but it will not give the trust of Atatürk to anyone. This nation has not allowed those who wear boots or those who wear ties to pass, and it will not allow them from now on. This nation will never forgive those who disturb its peace and shrink its bread!

REITERATED THE CALL FOR A BY-ELECTION

Our nation is now waiting for a ballot box to have its say. If Can Atalay's rights are not granted today, 8 parliamentary seats are vacant. The time for a by-election, as mandated by Article 78 of the Constitution, has come. Ballot boxes must be set up for the vacant parliamentary seats.

Moreover, the Ak Party came in first in the last election in all of these places. The legitimacy of a government that runs away from elections in places where it came in first 3 years ago and accepts defeat from the beginning is questionable. And the legitimacy that the nation does not give cannot be obtained from the highly trusted American President Trump or his ambassador who praises Monarchy regimes. Legitimacy is obtained from the nation! Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation!"

News Source: 12punto