Breaking News... Critical rally by CHP before the Party Congress trial! Thousands of citizens flocked to the square

At the call of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Ankara's Tandoğan Square hosted a massive rally today attended by tens of thousands of citizens. Participants gathered under the slogans, "Politics, not guardianship! No to trustees, no to coups!"

İMAMOĞLU'S LETTER READ AT THE SQUARE

One of the significant moments of the rally was the reading of a letter written by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu. The letter emphasized the CHP's commitment to democracy and its determination to defend the will of the people.

The rally was held ahead of the Party Congress trial, a critical turning point for the CHP. The lawsuit, filed following allegations of irregularities during the 38th Ordinary Congress, will be heard tomorrow at the Ankara 42nd Civil Court of First Instance.

MANSUR YAVAŞ REMINDED THE CROWD OF 'MELİH GÖKÇEK'

At the rally, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mansur Yavaş addressed the hundreds of thousands in the square:

"Perhaps we have gathered once or twice before, but I haven't had the opportunity to address such a large crowd as today's rally.

From 2019 to 2024, we served for five years by working together with the people of Ankara, managing collectively, managing transparently, and with a participatory management approach. The municipal governance we practiced was the right kind of municipal governance.

We restored the forgotten people-oriented municipalism and brought justice everywhere, and at the end of five years, despite all the obstructions, we increased our votes in Ankara to 60 percent and the number of municipalities we hold from 3 to 16. And we also secured our majority in the municipal council. Therefore, Ankara became an example of how the Turkish people, the Turkish nation, responded to the obstructions.

Why am I saying this? The end of the obstruction of both the Republican People's Party and the CHP-run municipalities, the opposition municipalities, will surely be the same in the earliest possible election.

Both the opposition will secure a majority in the parliament, and hopefully, we will all reach beautiful days where everyone feels secure in their justice, walks freely on the streets, and when there is a knock at the door at three in the morning, one has no thought other than 'I suppose the milkman has arrived.'

What we want is justice. Our mayors, starting with Mayor Ekrem, are imprisoned. Indictments have not yet been prepared. It is impossible to understand some of these detentions. Because detention is the exception; trial without detention is what it should be. This is the general rule of law. These are currently working in reverse.

There are also other mayors of ours who are being troubled. Including Murat Çalık and Mayor Muhittin, this is now nothing but persecution. We gave this state, yes, we gave this state certain powers through the constitution. However, once a person is detained, whether they are a mayor or whoever they may be, their health and life are now entrusted to justice.

Therefore, we primarily demand that they all be released immediately and that their trials be conducted transparently.

We submitted some corruption files from the previous era in Ankara. To date, none of them have been arrested. No action has been taken against the mayor about whom two books full of corruption files were written. They have occupied Ankara as a family!"

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL: ERDOĞAN, HAVE YOU EVER SEEN TANDOĞAN LIKE THIS?

Following Mansur Yavaş, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel took the podium to speak.

Highlights from Özgür Özel's remarks are as follows:

"We are on the lands where the Republic is exalted: with the Çankaya Mansion, Anıtkabir, its parliaments, and its squares... Welcome to the living museum of our republic, to the city of our Ancestor.

We are writing history again in this historic square; we are in the square where the Cyprus rallies in the 1950s, the great labor rallies in 1959, and the independence rallies against the Sixth Fleet were held.

We are in the square of those who have resisted injustice for seventy years. Today, we are here to say 'no' to guardianship and coups. Today, we are here to say politics, not guardianship.

In Tandoğan Square, when the entries were planned last night, you moved the search points, which they said '500,000 people could fill this place,' six times further today. You became millions; you flowed into Tandoğan.

We are not at a rally, of course... We are in an action again; we are in action for free elections, for democracy.

Today, there are not only CHP members here; workers, retirees, women are here; democrats from different parties, unions, and non-governmental organizations are here.

We are in this square, arm in arm, with all the colors of the Turkey Alliance. Those who say 'politics, not guardianship' today; those who say 'no' to trustees and coups, those who are resisting for the 54th time since the March 19 coup are here.

This square gives confidence to friends and anxiety to those who are not; all autocrats fear squares. Democrats fill the squares.

Autocrats watch that square from the corner where they sit and tremble. Today, there are also those who sit in their palace and fear this square.

There are also those who are excited by this square from their 12-meter wages, those who believe in this square.

I am addressing the one who looks at this square from his palace: Hey Erdoğan! Have you ever seen Tandoğan Square like this?

All the boulevards leading to the square are full to the brim; no one is leaving, do you see? In this square, there are not those who are afraid like you; there are those who are not afraid of you, who are not weary of oppression.

This square left fear at home. This square is resisting. This square is fighting.

Autocrats watch that square from the corner where they sit and tremble. Today, there are also those who sit in their palace and fear this square.

There are also those who are excited by this square from their 12-meter wages, those who believe in this square.

I am addressing the one who looks at this square from his palace: Hey Erdoğan! Have you ever seen Tandoğan Square like this?

All the boulevards leading to the square are full to the brim; no one is leaving, do you see? In this square, there are not those who are afraid like you; there are those who are not afraid of you, who are not weary of oppression.

This square left fear at home. This square is resisting. This square is fighting.

The Republican People's Party is born from the Kuvay-ı Milliye (National Forces); it is formed by the merger of the Anatolian and Rumelian Societies for the Defense of Rights.

It considers the Sivas Congress as its first congress. In Atatürk's words, it has been standing since that day; this party is the party of those who founded the Republic, the cadres who founded the Republic.

However, this party is not the sole owner of the Republic, a party that does not share that success... On the contrary, it is a party that makes all of our grandfathers and grandmothers partners in that foundation, sees them in that foundation... And expects all parties to protect the Republic, to embrace Atatürk's revolutions, and to keep democracy alive.

In this sense, although it is currently governed by those who see democracy not as an end but as a means in power, who say, 'we got on when it suited us, we will get off when it suits us'; who got off the democracy train when they lost the March 31 elections and realized they could not win another general election...

In all the processes we have experienced in recent days; starting with the visit of the Democrat Party, with the visits of the DEM Party and the Zafer Party, the visit requests and good wishes of the New Welfare Party, the shares and phone calls of the IYI Party, DEVA, Future Party, and Felicity Party; shoulder to shoulder with our friends on the right, with the Workers' Party of Turkey, EMEP, and the Left Party... All the democrats of Turkey are on the side of democracy.

Next Wednesday, we are going to the Constitutional Court together with exactly 260 signatures; we are resisting against the trustee together, from right to left.

We declare from Tandoğan that: The Republican People's Party is Turkey's leading party. It is the main opposition party. It is united with all our brother parties in this struggle, shoulder to shoulder, and is grateful to all of them.

Our party has been the target of coups for years; it was closed down, our chairmen were arrested and put in jail. But we overcame every difficulty together with our nation.

It lasted 47 years... We became the second party, we could not become the first party. We could not win the elections, but we did not deviate from democracy.

A coup was staged against our rivals, not against the coup plotters; we stood by democracy; we showed patience for 47 years, we trusted the nation.

47 years later, in the March 31 elections, we achieved a great success; with our mayors, metropolitan mayors, district and town mayors, we gained the opportunity to serve 65 percent of Turkey's population.

And since that day, from our first speech: 'This is not a war, this was a race, it ended tonight,' we said. 'The winner of this election is the CHP, there is no loser,' we said. 'We will not make anyone regret the vote they cast, but we will make those who did not vote say, 'I wish I had voted too,'' we said.

We said service, we said protecting the poor; the mayors do not have the door of the municipality, the safe, or the golden key of the city in their pockets; we said they have the key to the Republican People's Party government.

Mayor Ekrem in Istanbul, Mayor Mansur in Ankara... By working together, by entering the hearts of the nation with exemplary services... When results far ahead of the election were obtained in the polls...

Those against us were going to show the patience we showed for 47 years, the fortitude we showed for 47 years, the respect for democracy we showed for 47 years, for 47 months.

That day, there were 47 months left until the start of the general election calendar; they could not digest it for 47 days, let alone 47 months. They could not accept defeat for 47 days.

They got off the democracy train at their first defeat. And they embarked on an attack that not only took other authoritarians in the world as an example but surpassed them, attempting things they did not dare to do. Those who first established electoral authoritarianism are now eager to transition to a dictatorship without elections.

They are attacking the Republic, democracy, and the ballot box inherited from Atatürk.

They are attacking the multi-party regime.

This government does not want democracy: They know that if there were democracy, they would not be able to emerge from the ballot box. They know that if there were justice, they would not be able to cover up their own crimes. They know that if there were peace, they would not be able to polarize this nation.

But I swear that we will bring justice, democracy, and peace! These squares, these actions, and this resistance will bring them.

A dark order has been established: We are in a dark order that drowns Turkey in bans, enriches a handful of people, and impoverishes the nation.

Before this dark order was established, our retirees' lowest pension was eight quarter gold coins. Today, the lowest pension is only and only two quarter gold coins. The retiree is receiving one-fourth of the salary compared to before the AK Party, in terms of gold. They are already feeling this poverty to their marrow, to their bones.

The minimum wage has fallen from seven quarter gold coins to two and a half quarter gold coins in the AK Party's dark order. In Ankara, the capital of civil servants; while the lowest civil servant salary before the AK Party could buy fourteen and a half quarter gold coins, now it can only buy five and a half quarter gold coins.

We are speaking from Ankara, the city of students. Student loans, that is, KYK loans, were one and a half quarter gold coins during the previous government they disliked, while now it is not even half a quarter; only half a gram of gold can be bought. It is at one-fourth of the level of that day.

Unfortunately, the middle class has disappeared in the AK Party's dark order. While the salary and severance pay received by a retired teacher who worked all their life used to be enough to buy a house, now if five retired teachers combine their severance pay, they can barely buy a house to put their heads in.

There is a great income inequality in society. Among 38 OECD countries, Turkey is unfortunately in first place in both food inflation and general inflation. Let those liars who say there is inflation in Europe listen well: The average inflation in Europe is 2 percent. It is 33 percent in Turkey. When inflation in Europe rises from 2 percent to 4 percent, an alarm is raised. Ours, on the other hand, said 'there is a religious decree' and left inflation up to 150 percent. The citizen has been impoverished, and the money taken from the pockets of the poor has been transferred to the rich through currency-protected deposits.

Today, while there are a total of 13 million unemployed in 27 European countries, there are 13.5 million unemployed in Turkey alone. The highest interest rate in the world after Venezuela is in the AK Party's dark order.

Those who brought Turkey to this state have deemed the richest 20 percent in Turkey worthy of 90 percent of the wealth, and only 10 percent for the remaining 80 percent. While the richest 1 percent takes 40 percent of the wealth; the remaining 99 percent share 60 percent.

This is the AK Party's dark order. In this order, life is expensive, labor is cheap. Bread is expensive, labor is cheap. Freedom of organization and freedom to strike are not under threat, they are under direct attack. This government is anti-labor, a strike-banner.

Today, in the salary raises given to workers in Turkey, they are being cheated three times. First, they say 'TÜİK's inflation rates will be taken as a basis,' and TÜİK's made-up, halved inflation is taken into account. Then, not even that is taken, and a raise is given with 'expected inflation' which is 15 points below inflation.

Those who boast that we are growing do not give a share of the growth to either the laborer or the retiree; they ensure that they shrink even further.

From here, from Ankara, both from the capital of the country and the capital of bureaucracy, but also from the capital of labor, I address all laborers in Turkey: Definitely join a union. The worst union is better than being non-unionized.

Erdoğan's interests and the nation's interests have diverged from each other. They have now become opposed to each other. This is actually good; the ranks have become clear. Erdoğan is in a position to do anything for his own interests. The disruption of the nation's peace and prosperity is also included in this.

Precisely for this reason, the nation has withdrawn its support from this government. The nation has pinned its hopes on a government that worries about its own troubles.

Our party has become Turkey's leading party after 47 years. The AK Party has been defeated for the first time since the day it was founded. While it should have respected the nation's decision, looked for the mistake in itself, and competed with us in service, it has resorted to the worst way, the most terrible way.

The government, which cannot promise hope to the nation, has chosen to survive by frightening the nation and putting it under pressure.

Today in Turkey, we are experiencing the heavy consequences of a government that came to power democratically getting off the democracy train and choosing to govern the country not with the ballot box but with pressure.

Unfortunately, whoever is a democratic threat to the government is a target of the government today. The nation is paying a heavy price so that one person and his circle can remain in power.

With this understanding, just four days before March 23, the date we would determine our presidential candidate, on March 19, our presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained. He was kept in detention for exactly four days, and on March 23, the person whom 15.5 million voters showed as a presidential candidate was put behind bars.

We would like to say together from here: Our presidential candidate is Ekrem İmamoğlu.

He and our friends have been in prison for 179 days since the March 19 coup. When the leading waves of this coup began, our Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer has been in prison for over 300 days. Rıza Akpolat has been in prison for 280 days.

And right now, from Adana to Izmir, from Antalya to Istanbul, 17 of our mayors are watching us from prisons as political prisoners.

Today, one of our mayors whom the youth walked for, walked from Adana to Istanbul, one of those stopped at the entrance of Istanbul... Today is Zeydan Karalar's birthday. From here, we greet a mayor like Adana with love: Happy birthday, Mayor Zeydan!

In the great struggle we have been waging together since the March 19 coup, I would also like to extend a special thanks to our Mayor Mansur Yavaş, who is one of Mayor Ekrem's most important companions and one of those who has stood by him the most.

With this struggle, they could not make the nation accept this coup: Seventy-five percent of the country, that is, three out of four people, do not believe these lies. They know that these lawsuits are political, that these are slander.

Because of our self-confidence; we know how empty the still-unwritten indictments are, how much of a lie what is said is.

And we repeat with great self-confidence: Go ahead! Let's make the legal regulation in the Parliament that will open on October 1. Let's allocate a channel on TRT to this court. Let's give the broadcast to all private television stations that want it. Let the slanders be made on live broadcast; let the answers be given on live broadcast. I challenge you!

Those who constantly threaten our mayors... Inspectors came years ago, examined, gave clean reports; but those who, instead of looking for a criminal for a crime years later, declare a person a criminal and search meticulously to find a crime for them are now at the point of direct intervention in politics.

The same businessman... He has received 378 tenders. 75 of these are from the CHP. Investigation in all of them, mayors are inside.

303 are from the AK Party... They don't touch anyone.

The MHP's Kütahya Mayor also gave a tender to the same person; they separate his file and send it to Kütahya.

But they bring our mayors from Adana to Istanbul and put them in Silivri. They don't send their files.

Some of these businessmen from the Republican People's Party have received tenders before their time.

They came with the approval of the AK Party members. They hold us accountable for that tender and put us in jail. But on the other hand, if the same businessman also worked in CHP municipalities: 'Either join the AK Party, or lie in Silivri.' They say, 'Either you will join the AK Party, or you will be thrown into Silivri.'

You know, just as there were heroes who resisted these threats, there were also those who turned tail and ran. Those who were not sure of what they were doing and surrendered to the AK Party took their place in history.

But just last week... In front of his wife, they said to our Bayrampaşa Mayor Hasan Mutlu, 'Either you will join the AK Party, or you will also be thrown into jail.'

This was the third offer that had come so far.

Hasan Mutlu said, 'I dreamed of being a mayor all my life. I came to be a mayor like Tailor Fikri. I will not act dishonorably.' And yesterday morning, they came and took Hasan Mutlu.

That is why; those who resist like Hasan Mutlu, those who resist like Ekrem İmamoğlu, those who resist like our 17 mayors are taking their place in history.

Just three days ago... When our Beykoz Mayor came out, they said, 'This one will agree with the AK Party, he will switch there,' and the Mayor was re-arrested that day. History will also write those who show the dishonor of switching to the AK Party; we will all hold them accountable!

Let's be clear: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has allowed and provided opportunities for all kinds of games, tricks, and intrigues to take back the municipalities he lost.

He is attacking the CHP congress with a voice recording, not knowing that the deputy mayor he pinned a badge on, and those who left with him, are in those records. Whereas the AK Party has embraced those voice recorders.

In Bayrampaşa, while there are a total of 15 municipal council members from the AK Party and MHP, 20 from the CHP, and 2 independents; 7 is not enough for the AK Party, they need 8 municipal council members.

They took 8 of our municipal council members in Bayrampaşa and put them in detention. They are trying to win Bayrampaşa by arresting them.

I am addressing Tayyip Erdoğan from here: Gaziosmanpaşa, Bayrampaşa, Beykoz, Aydın; Turkey does not want you!

Get off our backs!

News Source: 12punto