A 100-Day Disgrace... CHP Group Meeting in Saraçhane with Özgür Özel: He Addressed the One Who Gave the Order: 'Wait Until the Election, You Jerk!'

Exactly 100 days have passed since the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu. On this symbolic date, the CHP is holding a large-scale rally in Saraçhane. Before the rally, dubbed with the slogan '100 Days of Disgrace,' CHP Chairman Özgür Özel met with party officials and the families of the imprisoned IMM bureaucrats in a private session.

THE PROCESS FROM DIPLOMA CRISIS TO IMPRISONMENT

İmamoğlu's university diploma was revoked by the Council of Higher Education on March 18 on the grounds of 'irregularity.' Detained by police teams on the morning of March 19, İmamoğlu was sent to prison on March 23, the same day he was announced as the CHP's presidential candidate with 15.5 million votes.

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel described this process as an 'unlawful coup,' stating that all allegations against the IMM were baseless and intended to mislead the public.

'100 DAYS OF DISGRACE' MEETING

Led by CHP leader Özel, the special meeting titled '100 Days of Disgrace' held before the rally in Saraçhane was attended by Ekrem İmamoğlu's wife, Dilek İmamoğlu, as well as the families of the imprisoned IMM bureaucrats. During the meeting, political assessments were made, and messages from the families of the detainees were shared with the public.

TIMING OF THE OPERATION IN IZMIR DRAWS REACTION

On this day, which coincides with the 100th day of İmamoğlu's imprisonment, another CHP-run municipality was targeted. In an operation conducted against the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality in the morning, nearly 120 people, including former Mayor Tunç Soyer and CHP İzmir Provincial Chairman Şenol Aslanoğlu, were detained. Özgür Özel interpreted this operation as an 'attempt to silence the opposition through the judiciary.'

PREPARATIONS FOR A MAJOR RALLY IN SARAÇHANE

Later in the day, a major rally will be held at Saraçhane Square in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality building. With this rally, the CHP aims to raise the voice of the 'silent majority' against both İmamoğlu's imprisonment and the recent increase in judicial pressure.

Highlights from Özgür Özel's remarks are as follows: 

On the day and at the time of our parliamentary group meeting, we are here with you, and this evening, we will all be together in Saraçhane at 8:30 PM, the place and time where everything began.

We are here to stand tall with our struggle in the face of a great injustice, right in the middle of a democratic shame, to remember and to remind, not to forget and not to let be forgotten, and to unite once again.

I greet you all with love, respect, hope, and resilience. Today is exactly the 104th day of the March 19 coup, which has gone down in our political history as a dark stain.

It is also exactly the 100th day since the imprisonment of our presidential candidate, Ekrem İmamoğlu.

We are experiencing a process where the national will is being stifled in courthouses and palace corridors, and where traps are being set against the sovereignty of the people.

"A DISGRACE TO TURKISH POLITICAL HISTORY"

Exactly 100 days ago today, a presidential candidate for whom 15.5 million people went to the polls was arrested on the day he became a candidate. Today is the 100th day. It is a disgrace. It is a disgrace to democracy. It is a disgrace to justice. This process is a disgrace to the political history of Turkey.

We have been on the streets and in the squares since March 19.

As the youth say, we are not in the squares for a rally, but for an act of resistance. We are exercising our right to resist a coup. Because the history of this nation is, in fact, a history of resistance.

Tyrants have always existed in history, and they always will. But resistance has also always existed. It is always those who resist who win.

For 100 days, Ekrem İmamoğlu has been standing tall in that cell with his pride and honor. None of the slanders cast against him have stuck, nor will they. We, too, have been in the squares with our nation for 100 days. While those who threw Mayor Ekrem into prison cannot even show their faces in public out of fear, we are together, united, and shoulder to shoulder. We look into each other's eyes and draw strength from one another.

"THE NATION'S CONSCIENCE TRUSTS YOU, ME, AND MAYOR EKREM, NOT THE DISGRACEFUL"

This nation trusts you, me, and Mayor Ekrem, not those with blackened consciences. This nation stands not with those who use the state for their own interests, but with those who fight for justice, if necessary, barefoot and with their bare hands.

Dear friends, this government fell from the eyes and hearts of the nation 100 days ago. This government actually admitted 100 days ago that it had lost. That is why today is also the 100th day of the victory of the nation's will, even if it has not yet been officially declared.

Those who have been governing this country for 100 days are no longer a legitimate government. This structure, consisting of a handful of people, represents a lost regime trying to survive through oppression. In democracies, what matters is respecting the will of the nation. The government the nation wants comes to power, and the one it does not want leaves. The nation has decided. The Justice and Development Party has been in power for 23 years. The nation decided, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became Prime Minister and then President. The same nation made a decision on March 31, 2024, and made the Republican People's Party, our party, the party of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the leading party in Turkey, just as it was on the day it was founded.

"AK PARTY ENCOUNTERED DEFEAT FOR THE FIRST TIME"

The AK Party, however, encountered defeat for the first time since its founding. In the statement I made on election night, I said: 'There is no loser in this victory. Our success will not be anyone's humiliation.'

We do not view these results as a victory that will lead us to complacency, but as a credit extended by the voters for the future. That is what I said.

With the municipalities we won that day, we set out the next morning to provide better service and to win the hearts of the nation. Our mayors worked with all their might, tirelessly and without pause. They brought aid to those in need, regardless of their party or political views.

"INSTEAD OF COMPETING WITH US..."

In the research we conducted 6-7 months after the elections, the satisfaction rate with our mayors and municipalities reached 58 percent on the national average in Turkey. Some of our mayors achieved satisfaction rates as high as 70 percent. The AK Party also commissioned the same measurements. In their own measurements, they measured our satisfaction rate at 61 percent, while we found it to be 58 percent. Just as they do today, all research companies measured and declared our party as Turkey's leading party and the future ruling party back then as well.

What the government should have done that day was to compete with us in service. But instead of competing with us, they feared competing with us. The nation waited for them for 47 months—the time until the presidential election calendar would begin—for the respect we have shown for democracy for 47 years. Let alone 47 months, they could not even respect the nation's decision for 47 days.

"THEY RESORTED TO TWO PATHS IN A PANIC"

With a rising panic and endless arrogance, they took a stand against the nation. They resorted to two paths to block our way. First, they tried to collapse our municipalities. They wanted to collect the SGK and tax debts—most of which were exorbitant debts with interest upon interest remaining from their own terms—from our mayors in one go, in a single payment, and they largely did so.

"LOOKING INTO THE EYES OF THEIR MINISTERS, TELLING THEM TO SHAKE THEM DOWN..."

They gave instructions to their ministers on live television, looking them straight in the eyes, telling them to 'shake them down a bit' so that our mayors would be in a difficult economic situation and unable to serve the nation. But thanks to the perseverance and determination of our mayors and the struggle of their talented teams, they could not disrupt the services.

When nothing came of this, they turned to judicial conspiracies. For this, they found a useful tool like Zekeriya Öz for them...

"JUSTICE HAS BEEN UNDERFOOT FOR 265 DAYS"

They found a 'mobile guillotine' who carried out political instructions to the letter in cases involving Canan Kaftancıoğlu, Enis Berberoğlu, Selahattin Demirtaş, Can Atalay, Sözcü Newspaper, Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Grup Yorum, the Turkish Medical Association, and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, and who was later rewarded in Ankara as a Deputy Minister. They appointed this person from a political office like Deputy Minister of Justice to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office with a decision contrary to the constitution. Since October 9, for 265 days, justice and conscience have been underfoot in Istanbul and Turkey. Investigations were launched against dissidents, politicians, journalists, our mayors, and our brilliant bureaucrats, and unjust arrests were made. First, on October 30, our Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer was arrested, and a trustee was appointed in his place. Ahmet Özer, whom the people of Esenyurt elected with 51 percent of the vote, has been imprisoned for 244 days. For 244 days, our Esenyurt Municipality has been under occupation, and the will of Esenyurt is a captive. In the following days, our Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat has been imprisoned for exactly 165 days. Our Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler has been imprisoned for 119 days. Our Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu has been imprisoned for 100 days. Şişli Mayor Emrah Şahan and our Beylikdüzü Mayor Murat Çalık have been imprisoned for 100 days each. Our Büyükçekmece Mayor Hasan Akgün, Gaziosmanpaşa Mayor Hakan Bahçetepe, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Haydar, and Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin have been imprisoned for 27 days each; they are in dungeons.

"WE STAND BEHIND THEM ALL"

Along with them, we have bureaucrats who have been inside for 27 days, 100 days, 119 days, and 165 days. Their only crime is performing their duties with integrity. The fact that they are still inside is because they did not comply with the slanderous instructions given to them, and they refused to provide false statements or smear one another. From our newest bureaucrat to the friends we have fought alongside for years, we send our greetings from this hall to the honorable people held captive in Silivri and various parts of Turkey. We stand behind them all, we are by their side, and we are proud of them all.

"WHEN İMAMOĞLU BECOMES A CANDIDATE, ALL PROVINCES ON THIS MAP WILL BE RED"

Young people, young people, young people, they are addressing someone from above. There is a chart behind me. One election ago, the Republican People's Party had gaps in the coastal regions as well. From a situation where the Republican People's Party could become the leading party in coastal municipalities, with this spirit and this solidarity—thanks to our valuable Metropolitan, provincial, district, and town mayors, each of whom is sitting in these front rows, such as Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş—this is the picture that emerged 47 years later, following a path taken with the right candidates, the right projects, clean hearts, and courage.

When the person mentioned becomes a presidential candidate and the ballot boxes are opened, there will not be a single province on this map that is not red. We believe in this, and we trust in this.

"WHILE THE NATION WANTED AN EARLY ELECTION, THEY MOVED THE COUP UP"

We were calling for an early election. We set out with the idea that the candidate for an early election should be determined early. We announced that we would determine our candidate through a primary election on March 23. That was when they panicked and pressed all the buttons at once. While the nation wanted an early election, they moved their coup preparations forward.

One day after our Mayor Ekrem submitted his application for the primary, on February 22, they launched an investigation into his 31-year-old diploma. The Faculty Dean, who did not accept this lawlessness, resigned and left. On March 19, the Faculty's board of directors was going to meet. Constantly, to that board of directors, 4 out of 7 members is not enough. Did you find the 5th?

They asked if the diploma would be canceled. When the honorable faculty members and board members of the Faculty of Business Administration refused to comply, the university's board of directors—which is responsible for organizing shuttle services, buying paint for walls, and making joint decisions for common university areas, but has nothing to do with diplomas, transcripts, courses, grades, or education—unilaterally and without authorization, canceled the diploma issued by the Faculty of Business Administration at the very time of iftar, right at the spot where you just watched the video of Mayor Ekrem.

The evil committed by those who canceled Mayor Ekrem's 31-year-old diploma was this: They unfortunately announced to the whole world that no document in this country has any value anymore, that whenever they feel like it, they can seize anyone's certificate of election, title deed, diploma, bank deposit book, or marriage certificate, and that the state's word has no value or guarantee in this country.

"THEY COULD NOT EVEN SERVE THE SHAMEFUL DECISION FOR 55 DAYS"

They could not even serve this shameful decision for 55 days. In the lawsuit filed after the notification, they could not present the requested documents to the court. Instead of telling those who requested documents from the Council of Judges and Prosecutors and did not provide them that they were doing wrong, they disbanded the panel that requested the documents with the first decree and exiled them to all corners of Turkey.

"ERDOĞAN WAS SO AFRAID OF MAYOR EKREM THAT..."

Erdoğan was so afraid of Mayor Ekrem that he did not settle for canceling the diploma. Hours after the diploma cancellation, at the time of suhoor, they came to our mayor's house with hundreds of police officers. A person at the top, along with three prosecutors, three judges, and three secret witnesses, attempted a coup that will never be erased from this nation's memory. They wanted people to react. They banned demonstrations. They blockaded the squares. They stopped the buses.

They closed metro stations. They lifted bridges and tied up ferries. They practically imposed a blockade on the historic peninsula. They tried to scare and intimidate people. However, this nation, which has never bowed to a tyrant, resisted once again. They could not prevent this revival. Republican People's Party members gathered in front of the Vatan Police Headquarters, and students gathered in Beyazıt Square. On both sides, there were thousands, tens of thousands of police officers and meters of barricades. Students and CHP members tore down the barricades in front of them and marched to Saraçhane. They met in Saraçhane.

"15.5 MILLION CITIZENS RUSHED TO THE BALLOT BOX"

For 7 days and 7 nights, we stood in the same square, on the same bus, and spoke from the same microphone to carry out actions that went down in history. When March 23 arrived, they attempted to ban and obstruct the primary election we were going to hold with our 2 million members.

We placed our solidarity ballot boxes next to our member ballot boxes and invited our nation to the polls. This was not an easy invitation. There were only 3 days left. We had 2 million members, 500,000 of whom had rushed to join in the last month, and we trusted you, our members, there.

We said, 'Inform everyone about the solidarity ballot box. Encourage them to vote. Accompany them to the polls,' and thanks to you, that day this noble nation, 15.5 million of our citizens, rushed to the polls and cast their votes.

"THE YOUNGEST WAS 18, THE OLDEST WAS 104"

And 15.5 million of our citizens rushed to the polls and voted. The youngest was 18, the oldest was 104. There were those who came with their 3-month-old babies in their wombs, and those who climbed the stairs with two canes at the age of 90. They came, they chose, and they made history.

That day, we had no other choice; we went to this nation. We put a ballot box in front of this nation. They did not set up ballot boxes that day, but they set up a conspiracy. While the ballot boxes were being opened and the votes were being counted, they put our Mayor Ekrem and our friends behind iron bars and locked the iron doors on them. Today, we are together on the 100th day of that imprisonment.

In 100 days, what lies and slanders they have spread. They said, 'You won't be able to look each other in the face in a month.' They set up a conspiracy similar to the ones they set up in the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) and Ergenekon cases, and in the cancellation of the Istanbul elections. Human memory is both strong and weak. We do not forget what we should not forget, but sometimes what we have forgotten remains on the sidelines at a point where we should not have forgotten it.

"HEY ERDOĞAN, I AM TELLING YOU WHILE LOOKING INTO THE EYES OF TURKEY: İMAMOĞLU IS INNOCENT"

I am addressing him. Hey Erdoğan! Two months ago, three months ago, 100 days ago, you said, 'Let a month pass.' You said they wouldn't be able to look each other in the eye or look into the eyes of their families. You were counting on slanders, lies, secret witnesses, and families turning against each other. Look, we are all together in this square, in this hall. Just like we are all over Turkey. From here, looking into the eyes of those filling this hall, into the eyes of Mayor Ekrem's dear wife, into the eyes of the families, and into the eyes of Turkey, I say: Ekrem İmamoğlu and our friends are innocent. The accusations are slander. You are the ones who won't be able to show your faces in public. You are the slanderers. It is you. We are here. We are here. We are all together.

"YOU WILL BE DEFEATED BY A SINGLE PASSPORT PHOTO OF MAYOR EKREM"

They shut down his social media account because he was making his voice heard through it. They had his photos, banners, and posters removed. Yet, Ekrem İmamoğlu is the last elected official of Istanbul and still holds the title of Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

Because he is imprisoned, a deputy from our group has been elected in his place. He is acting as a proxy for his duties until the elected mayor of Istanbul returns.

However, I say this to those who try to remove the elected person's picture from municipal billboards and his voice from the subway cars: You cannot erase Mayor Ekrem from the hearts of this nation with bans, by taking down pictures, or by silencing his voice. You will be defeated. You will be defeated. Even if you take down all the pictures, collect all the banners, and silence all the voices, the day will come when you will be defeated by a single passport photo of Mayor Ekrem. For 100 days, for 100 days, they have not been able to prove any of their claims. When their empty files blew up in their faces, they started looking for people to turn state's evidence.

"THEY EVEN SEIZED A CHILD'S PIGGY BANK"

They are attacking families, children, and spouses. In their search for money, they even seized a small child's piggy bank. They tried to take the earring from a young girl's ear, mistaking it for gold, and even held a metal detector to her ear. They became so dishonorable that they would connect to female detainees via remote video link without their lawyers present and say, 'Our time is short. You have 5 minutes left. If you don't say what I want, if you don't give the statement I tell you to give, you won't see me or your child for 20 years.'

"I AM ADDRESSING THE HSK"

And again, and again, they took a prisoner from Kandıra Prison to Çağlayan without their consent, without their knowledge, without their family knowing, and without calling their lawyer. They didn't take them to a courtroom, but to an unknown room, and sat them down in front of a chief prosecutor and three prosecutors. Psychological pressure, social torture, threats, and when you ask 'where is my lawyer,' they say you can't speak comfortably in their presence. They said, 'We didn't call you for an interrogation, but for a chat. You can leave this chat as a free person.' While doing this, a chief prosecutor and three prosecutors were there together. I am addressing the HSK (Council of Judges and Prosecutors) from here. I am addressing the Minister of Justice, who is the head of the HSK. I am addressing everyone in Turkey who has a say, an opinion, a duty, or training regarding the judiciary. How many years of progress is it to have a lawyer present during an interrogation? What does it mean to take a statement without a lawyer and force someone to become a slanderer, and for no one to take action against it? I am addressing those who remain silent while that chief prosecutor and three prosecutors perform this act in those rooms without authorization. Return to your duties. Do what is necessary. Put those arrogant people in their place. Otherwise, this nation will put you in your place.

"THE ONE WHO GAVE THE ORDER..."

There is a signature under it. When we said no money came out of the safes, they said they didn't have the footage. They said, 'We used stock video, sorry.' It's not about being sorry. It's not about being sorry. Who sent you this stock video? I know who told the press to use the footage despite the empty safe. I say to the one who broadcast this footage and to the one who gave that order: wait until the election, you jerk. Wait until the election.

"I TRUST THE NATION, DAMN IT"

What does Özgür Özel trust in? I trust the nation, damn it. I trust the nation. Who else is there to trust but the nation? I trust the nation, the nation.

There is someone named Aziz İhsan Aktaş; there is no place he hasn't entered, no tender he hasn't been involved in. What has been left out? The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Court of Accounts, the Trabzon Metropolitan Municipality, the Isparta Municipality. More than 20 major universities, State Hospitals, City Hospitals, almost all ministries. Aziz İhsan Aktaş is in all of them. They took him and put him inside...

Details are coming... 

News Source: 12punto