Striking warning to CHP from Ekrem İmamoğlu! 'They are not my fellow traveler, period!'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu attended the opening ceremony of the Sultanbeyli Battalgazi Fire Station.

Making statements there, Ekrem İmamoğlu said, "Our nation expects us to work and produce results. In an environment where the economy is poor, they expect us to stand by their needs. We have taken on a responsibility, and all my fellow local administrators who took office, especially on March 31, are mandated by their status and responsibility to carry peace and friendship at the local level to the highest level all over Turkey."

Stating that "this has no party," İmamoğlu added, "Everyone must take on this responsibility. We have no business with that discriminatory mindset. Even if our hand is left hanging in the air, we will extend it. Let no one have any doubt about this. Because we are people who have made it our motto to look at the children of this nation with equal eyes."

"WHOEVER IS PREOCCUPIED WITH THIS IS NOT MY FELLOW TRAVELER, PERIOD!"

"In such a difficult period, I would like to say something clearly to my political fellow travelers, especially to my friends who engage in politics within the CHP, or to the party's top management who are mayors, council members, or members of parliament," said İmamoğlu, and continued as follows:

"The time is for preparing in the best way possible for the period ahead. The time is a time that commands us to talk about the nation's problems and find solutions to those problems. Especially for people who engage in politics in the same room, in the same space, under the same roof, this is not the time for 'you stepped on my foot, you touched my arm, you looked at me sternly.' Whoever is preoccupied with this is not my fellow traveler, period!

The issue is a matter of the country. A mayor who runs in the direction of the country's interests and asks how we can do our best while providing service is my greatest fellow traveler for life. A politician who says, 'Ekrem İmamoğlu is running, he is working. I will run more than him, I will work harder,' is my most esteemed fellow traveler, period!

But whoever talks about or makes others talk about issues within the party, occupying the day and night, and stomps on these issues as if they were the real matter, betrays both this nation and the Commander-in-Chief Marshal Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. It is that clear!"

"POLITICAL PARTIES ARE TOOLS"

"I address everyone who belongs to any political party," said İmamoğlu, "Party work is a tool. The issue is service to the nation. I look at my party that way too. I am a member of the CHP... I know that the CHP is a tool for the party I am honored to be a member of. In my effort to be worthy of my country and my nation, I recognize no one; I only recognize my 86 million people. This motto should be the motto of every politician."

News Source: 12punto