Breaking News... Historic statement from Özgür Özel in front of the TBMM: Chants of 'Traitor Kemal'!

Following the evacuation carried out by police intervention, Özgür Özel and those accompanying him left the CHP Headquarters and reached the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) on foot.

The statements made by Özel, who held a press conference in front of Parliament, are as follows:

"That is why, when we could not win that election on May 28, 2023, and when we all felt we had reached the end of something, with eyes cast down and heads bowed, in a state where no one could speak to anyone, we said the duty falls to us. We said the duty falls to the youth, the women, and the guardians of the Republic. We gave our word; we said we would not be defeated, we would not lose, and we would not turn off the lights early.

The nation saw sincerity in this determination. They said, 'Come, you take the lead of the party; we trust you.' We achieved such a difficult task that they said, 'Even if Atatürk came, he could not win an election with these delegates; throughout the Republican era, neither in this party nor in others has a chairman changed through an election, it cannot change.' I said, 'Our delegates will be convinced by the barber who shaves them, their 18-year-old neighbor living in the same apartment, and their neighbor across the border with whom they irrigate the field together. Talk to them before coming to Ankara,' I said. They came and took their places in the hall.

Some of you were in the hall, and some of you were in front of your screens with prayers. That day, a slogan rose that spread to the hall, to the outside, and to Turkey, which no one knew who started but everyone joined in when they heard it. The slogan was: 'Delegate, listen to the voice of the people'.

It gave them all goosebumps; tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions were shouting, 'Delegate, listen to the voice of the street'. They put their hands on their consciences, made their decision, and brought about change in the party. Four months after that day, in the first election, we ended a 47-year longing.

We defeated the Justice and Development Party for the first time; 47 years later, the CHP was now Turkey's leading party. That is our story. It turned from hopelessness to hope, from hope to victory, and from victory to persecution. Why are we being persecuted? We are being persecuted because we won, because we defeated them, and because we will defeat them and bring them down.

You know best, you know it best, and Turkey knows that neither the March 31 election nor the next election will see the removal of the one in the palace solely through the power of the CHP. It will be saved by millions who love their country, who see salvation in unity and full independence, who love their flag and Atatürk, even if they are in different political parties that love each other and their country.

I said the persecution started that day. Alliance, alliance, another alliance. Later, those who could not digest the two defeats took shape and stood against us. An alliance of those who could not digest the first defeat in the March 31 elections and our potential to defeat them from now on, an alliance of the palace that could not digest a chairman coming to a political party in Turkey for the first time through an election, a 48-year-old, 49-year-old grandson of a gardener, the child of a retired teacher becoming chairman, stood against us.

The judicial arms of the AK Party and the nullity arms of the AK Party are arm in arm against us. I have always remained silent until today; I am Özgür, who went to boarding school at age 10 in rubber shoes, Özgür who respects his elders, Özgür who does not wish harm upon those whose arm he takes; I gritted my teeth and stayed silent, I gritted my teeth and stayed silent.

But enough is enough. I do not pity myself, but I pity the women's branches who tied their headscarves with vinegar on the last election night, and the youth branches who could not look their fathers in the face. I do not pity myself; I hate attending the funerals of our party members who pass away with unfinished business because I left without winning an election, without sending them off. I promise you, they cannot discipline me with pain, persecution, or pressure. They cannot suppress me with gas, I will not be discouraged by beatings, but I will never get used to defeat again, I cannot tolerate losing.

The March 19 coup last year is the newest generation, the most cunning coup in this country. The March 19 coup is the coup this President carried out against the President after him, Ekrem İmamoğlu. The struggle waged after that has disrupted their calculations. Some have called the children of this party thieves and corrupt. They have called the children of this country and this party spies and tricksters, but this party knows its children, and it knows the slanderers. We do not sell anyone out.

After the great struggle we waged following the March 19 coup, they attempted to operate on the party this time to stop us. On May 21, 2026, they tried to remove those who ended the 47-year defeat and won by having the delegates listen to the voice of the street, by removing them from the head of the party through a coup. Finally, this morning at 07:00, they attacked this party by taking all the criminal, dangerous, and guilty types of Ankara behind them; they attacked the youth, they attacked the youth branches. We protected the party, our father's house; just as they did in Istanbul, this time they used the honorable Turkish police as a tool for their dirty ambitions, entered our headquarters, tore down the doors and windows, sprayed gas, and occupied it.

We, I, you, all of us together, resisted until the last moment, then we poured into the streets and came here. It rained on us, it hailed on us. As some say, 'be purified,' we were purified by the rain falling along with the pepper gas they sprayed. This party has nothing to be purified of other than the government's pepper gas and the betrayal of those we thought were friends.

News Source: 12punto