Özlem Çerçioğlu's statement: 'I was not someone distant from the President': She speaks for the first time

Aydın Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu's resignation from the CHP and her move to the AKP has caused a major stir in the political arena.

Özlem Çerçioğlu, who resigned from the CHP and joined the AKP, spoke for the first time. Stating that she was not a mayor who was distant from President Erdoğan before, Çerçioğlu said, "I always welcomed him when he came to Aydın, because he is the president of our country. We have always had a good friendship with him anyway."

It was learned that Çerçioğlu went to Aydın and held her first meeting, and she spoke to tv100.

The highlights from the AKP mayor's statements are as follows:

"I was not a mayor who was distant from our President anyway. During my tenure as mayor, I always welcomed our President when he came to the province of Aydın because he is the president of our country. We have always had a good friendship with him anyway.

It is not easy to leave a party where I have been involved in politics for nearly a quarter of a century, but as I stated in my explanations, there was no situation left to engage in politics here anymore.

Thank goodness, everyone I saw in the hall where the badge was pinned, whether I knew them or not, treated me warmly as if they were seeing their sister or older sister.

I am a mayor who has already received the favor of all the people of Aydın by receiving votes above the general elections in the province of Aydın. I have always been elected with votes above 50 points in local elections. After I was elected, I never engaged in partisanship in the province of Aydın, and all the people of Aydın know this.

Therefore, as of now, I do not have the slightest doubt regarding the province of Aydın; just as I was the 'Mayor Özlem' of the people of Aydın yesterday, I am still the 'Mayor Özlem' of the people of Aydın today in the same way.”

News Source: 12punto