Akşener's Istanbul Convention outburst: 'Come out and explain that too, Mr. Erdoğan'

İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener spoke at her party's parliamentary group meeting.

Akşener introduced some of the candidates who will be nominated in the local elections.

Highlights from Akşener's remarks are as follows:

ISTANBUL CONVENTION

"While we are exposed to new violence against women every day, were you able to prevent these incidents by withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention? Explain whether you were able to protect women by withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention. The result is that 334 women lost their lives due to violence in 2022. This number reached 364 with one month left in 2023. You cannot change anything regarding violence against women just to satisfy a minority that is hostile to women.

While the picture is this dire, Mr. Erdoğan says that our withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention has yielded positive results.

If that is the case, then come out and explain what kind of effect our withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention has had, Mr. Erdoğan."

INFLATION OUTBURST

Two and a half years ago, the Central Bank governor of the time was dismissed for raising interest rates to 19 percent. How far we have come.

We warned the government under the conditions of that day. We said, 'Do not interfere with the Central Bank's decisions.' The government, which ignored all our warnings, switched to the understanding of 'Raise interest rates so that inflation falls.'

We are running from one record to another in inflation. The value of the Turkish Lira is falling every day. While rents are rising tenfold, retirees cannot find a house to rent with their pensions.

"YOU PAY THE PRICE FOR A CHANGE"

If tenants are in court with their landlords today, this is the work of the AK Party.

Even in this dire picture, some people in our country continue to get rich. The name of this robbery is inflation.

Those who keep raising prices increase their profits every month. Then they turn around and say, 'We will give you a raise.' The Minister of Labor came out and said that there will now be only one increase in the minimum wage per year. The poverty line has exceeded 4 times the minimum wage. Faced with such a picture, they say that the minimum wage will now be determined only once a year. No matter how much of a raise minimum wage earners get against inflation, the salaries they receive start to melt away in just one month.

While we are saying that in such high inflation, two raises a year are not enough and there should be four, the minister says there will be one raise a year. What will our nation do for 12 months while everything is getting more expensive at any moment?

If you are going to cut back somewhere, then please cut back from yourselves. You save some money for a change, and you pay the price for a change, my brother.

"İYİ PARTY WAS NOT FOUNDED TO RELY ON ALLIANCES AND REST ON ITS LAURELS"

We will build disaster-resilient cities. In every city where we take over authority, we will create earthquake-resilient urban economies. We will establish disaster boards in every neighborhood (muhtarlık) in the municipalities we manage. We will prevent the lack of planning in disaster management, and neighborhood schools will be ready as assembly and shelter centers.

We will produce district-specific urban transformation projects. As the İYİ Party, we will introduce Turkey to a new kind of municipalism. We will get our nation, which is squeezed between two fists, out of this predicament.

The İYİ Party is the party of those who push away the immoral offers of politics with the back of their hands.

The İYİ Party was not founded for some people to climb career ladders. The İYİ Party was not founded to rely on alliances and rest on its laurels.

Those who could not show any success against this government yesterday are trying to pin the bill for the failure they caused on the İYİ Party today. They do not want a wrench thrown into the 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' system they have set up. Those who were acting as trumpeters for the 60 percent yesterday are now making analyses about the İYİ Party. The mud they throw will not stick to us.

We have never lied to our nation. We have never surrendered to our ambitions.

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