Breaking News: Özgür Özel's 'Maduro' question to Erdoğan! 'Did you know about this, or did you not?'

Taking the podium at his party's first Group Meeting of the new year at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel began his speech with messages regarding the year 2026.

Özgür Özel stated that 2025 had been a difficult year for Turkey and its citizens, and said that they were entering the new year with hope. Expressing that he celebrated the new year for all 86 million citizens, Özel wished for health, peace, prosperity, and justice. Emphasizing that no one is alone in these difficult times, Özel said, "Everything has a solution. And its name is the Republican People's Party (CHP)."

We are holding our party's group meeting. https://t.co/1aUQwMATnM

— Özgür Özel (@eczozgurozel) January 6, 2026

Highlights from Özel's speech are as follows:

"We are at the first group meeting of 2026. 2025 was a very difficult year for our country and our nation. However, we are entering the new year hoping that we have left 2025 behind with all its pain, all its injustices, its unfairness, and everything it made us experience; we are entering the new year with new hopes and new beliefs. While once again celebrating the new year for our 86 million citizens, I wish health, peace, prosperity, and justice for each of them, and I want to say that in these difficult conditions and these difficult days we are in, none of you are alone; everything has a solution, and its name is the Republican People's Party.

"THEY ARE BENEFITING FROM YÖK'S EVERY ASPECT"

Yesterday was also the 5th anniversary of the resistance at Boğaziçi University. On January 2, 2021, they appointed a trustee, not a rector, against the will of the university. Melih Bulu became the first servant of political tutelage at Boğaziçi. And from that day to this, the faculty members, students, and graduates of Boğaziçi have shown great resistance against both him and the trustee appointed after him. They resist every week, at the same day and the same hour. They turn their backs to the trustee building and their faces to free academia.

In our party program, we have written that we will abolish YÖK (Council of Higher Education), which is the residue of the 1980 coup, which every party says it will abolish when coming to power but then benefits from every aspect of, and which the AK Party used as its most important commitment when it came to power and now uses as its most important area. We have worked on rector appointments. From here, I want to express this in the presence of Boğaziçi students, faculty members, and history: A ballot box will come. Everyone will face and settle accounts with something at that ballot box. We will settle accounts with poverty, we will settle accounts with unemployment, we will settle accounts with insecurity. We will settle accounts with work-related murders, femicides, and nature massacres."

"WE WILL TEAR DOWN THIS ORDER IN THE FIRST YEAR OF OUR GOVERNMENT"

Unfortunately, we have entered a year that will be very difficult in the economy. They decided who would be taken from and who would be given what. We will pay 15.16 trillion liras in taxes; as a nation, we will pay 500,000 TL in taxes per second. The minimum wage earner and the billionaire will pay the same tax. 496,000, 500,000 liras per second. We will pay 500,000 liras in taxes per second. Who will pay the tax? We will all pay 64 liras of every 100 liras of tax through indirect taxes, that is, taxes that do not distinguish between the factory owner and the factory doorman, between the multi-billionaire and the minimum wage earner. We will pay the same tax regardless of our income when consuming electricity, using natural gas, buying milk, buying shoes, or buying a cardigan or a coat for our child. 64 percent.

Then there is a 24 percent bracket. That will be paid by those whose income tax is deducted from their salary before they even receive it. That is, white-collar workers, blue-collar workers, laborers, and retirees. What remains? 12 percent. 1 percent of that is other taxes collected from real estate owners. 11 percent is the corporate tax that those who earn money from all trade, manufacturing, exports, and the service sector in Turkey will pay. This order, which takes 88 percent from the middle class and the poor and only takes 11 percent of the tax from those who should be paying it, is the AK Party's 'black order.' We will tear down this order in the first year of our government.

No one should believe Erdoğan's fairy tales, no one should believe that this year will be better than the last. For their situation to be better than the past, this nation must go to the ballot box and send the AKP government away.

"THEY HAVE LEFT RETIREES DEPENDENT ON THE MOST UNBEARABLE, MISERABLE SALARY"

The hunger threshold is 30,000 liras. The Republican People's Party does not determine this. Türk-İş determines it. There is a hunger threshold above 30,000 liras, and for the first time in history, the minimum wage was below the hunger threshold on the day it was announced. They announced 28,000 liras; it was below the threshold on the day it was announced. By the time it is received, the hunger threshold will have risen a bit more. The AK Party decided to give 28,000 liras to the worker for 12 months—you know, they used to say they would adjust it 3-4 times a year before the election, but after the election, they didn't touch the minimum wage at all during the year. Well, what about the lowest pension? 18,975 liras. Not even 19,000 liras. 18,975 liras. Everyone expected him to say yesterday that they would increase this figure; he turned and looked, but Erdoğan didn't say a word about this.

Before the AK Party government came to power, the lowest pension was 1.5 times the minimum wage. In other words, if they didn't interfere with the retiree at all, didn't trip them up, didn't grab them by the collar, and gave them 1.5 times the minimum wage, they would still have to give the retiree 42,000 liras based on the minimum wage we are objecting to today. But they give the retiree 19,000 liras, 18,975. Retirees have been left dependent on the most unbearable, intolerable, miserable salary in their history, not just the worst.

"THERE IS SOMETHING WORSE THAN THE RETIREE, LET'S CLEAN UP THIS SHAME"

My friends said there is something worse than the retiree, we are preparing the notes. I said, 'What could be worse?' The 65-year-old pension was 5,390 liras, it became 6,393 liras. The disability pension was 4,300 liras, it became 5,100 liras. The home care allowance was 11,702 liras, it became 13,878 liras. Turkey is on the verge of a major social crisis, a social explosion. From here, I address all political parties, especially the Justice and Development Party: We cannot leave the retiree in this state. It is essential to make an increase to the base salaries through legislation. It is essential to give a flat-rate raise. It is unacceptable for a pension to be below a minimum wage. As the Republican People's Party, we are here. Let's clean up this shame this week.

"THE SITUATION WAS NOT LIKE THIS WHEN THE AK PARTY CAME TO POWER"

The injustice in income tax also continues exactly as it is. In 2025, the first bracket of income tax was 158,000 liras, now it has become 190,000 liras. This means: You start receiving your salary. Once you exceed 190,000 liras from the beginning of the year, that is, when you exceed this in 3 or 4 months, you enter the second higher tax bracket, then the next higher tax bracket... With these figures, an employee earning 70,000 liras will give 180,000 liras, 2.5 months of their salary, to taxes. Let's say an engineer earning 100,000 liras will give 320,000 liras, more than 3 months of their 12-month salary, to taxes. Why did it become like this? Actually, the situation was not like this at all when the AK Party came to power. Really high salaries were entering high tax brackets. But by not including the decimals, and by playing other games in some years, while salaries up to 1 million liras should be taxed at the lowest bracket of 15 percent—at least that's what the union announced, 750,000—the high tax bracket starts from 190,000 liras, from the 3rd or 4th month.

"DID WE ENTER A WAR? WERE WE INVADED?"

As the Republican People's Party, we spent 2025 with a very important struggle, a very important resistance, and not alone, but together with all of Turkey's democrats... I won't list their names one by one, but with the solidarity of all opposition parties and the support of all of Turkey's democrats, we spent it with a great struggle. The first gear of the wheel in a government is undoubtedly justice. If there is no justice, there is no prosperity, there is no wealth. Look, the 2025 inflation target was 17 percent, it ended at 31 percent at the end of the year. What happened in 2025? Was there a great disaster? Was there an earthquake? Did a meteor fall? Did we enter a war? Were we invaded? What did we do, what happened that this country ended up like this? On March 19, due to the indigestion of someone who lost an election for the first time with his party on March 31 a year ago, and who belittled the national will that he held dear when he won the election, saying, "They cannot decide, I will decide who will manage Istanbul. I said 'let Binali manage,' they said 'no,' I said 'let Murat Kurum manage,' they said 'let him go home,'" and someone who disregarded this will committed a civil coup attempt against the next president of our republic, against the next government of the Republic of Turkey, with his existing power, unfairly used, and with his instructions over the judiciary that should be independent.

"THE SOURCE THAT CANNOT BE FOUND IS THE MONEY BURNED ON MARCH 19"

Since that day, 160 billion dollars of our resources have gone to the coup. The money he cannot find today when he says to retirees, 'Come, give money,' is the money burned on March 19. The source he cannot find when he says, 'Increase the minimum wage but don't let it be a burden on the tradesman. The SGK support for the tradesman cannot be 1,000 liras, let's make it 10,000 liras for the small tradesman,' is the money he burned in the process after March 19. Everything that crashes the stock market, drives away investors, raises interest rates, and imposes 96 percent interest on credit cards when you cannot pay is a product of the March 19 coup. The reason why people today cannot pay the minimum of the money they withdrew from their credit cards, or withdraw from someone else to pay it, turn the ball a little bit, and then remain under that snowball, that rapidly growing snowball, is the missed targets and rapidly rising interest rates. The reason for all of them is the lawlessness on March 19."

"IF YOU CANNOT MAKE YOUR WORD HEARD, RESIGN"

We are not running away from justice. Let them take the 'AK Toroslar Gang' from there. We are ready to account for all of this one by one, without arrest, impartially, and on live broadcast. The knife has reached the bone from so much slander, so much injustice, so much lawlessness. From here on, from here on, every step to be taken from now on will increase the AK Party's political responsibility before history a little more. And today, in the Justice and Development Party, they say, 'Sir, we are against it too, we cannot make our word heard.' If you cannot make it heard, leave, brother! If you do not want to be an instrument to, to be a partner in, so much lawlessness, so much injustice, so much oppression, brother, the Justice and Development Party was founded with an intention at the time, came to power with the favor of the nation, and experienced opportunities that no one would be granted. If it has gone so astray today, don't follow them anymore, brother! Leave them now.

"THE TRUMP ORDER CANNOT BE THE WORLD'S ORDER"

The world has been talking about the Venezuela issue for days. The Trump administration, ignoring international law and the United Nations charter, went to another country alone and carried out a military intervention. Maduro was detained with bad treatment while sleeping in his bedroom with his wife, dragged, packaged, kidnapped, and taken to the United States. The president of a state was paraded through the streets of New York yesterday in the back of a car. The honor and pride of a country were toyed with.

Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Iran, Denmark, and Greenland, which is affiliated with Denmark, began to be openly threatened by Trump. Unfortunately, we are right in the middle of a banditry that threatens the entire world order. I am saying it from the very beginning. The world must take a common stance against this banditry. This state of madness must be stood against. If the world remains silent now, it will beat its knees later, just as it beat its knees after the world wars. The Trump order, America's order, cannot be the world's order.

"CHP IS THE LEFT-SOCIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY WITH THE HIGHEST VOTE IN THE WORLD"

There is no side to this that can be accepted. Just as we did not remain silent when Trump said he would go to Gaza, build hotels there, gave all kinds of support to Israel, and declared Netanyahu a war hero while some remained silent, we did not remain silent from the first moment on this issue either. It is a shame to say, but it happened that the Republican People's Party, with the vote rate it received in the last elections, with a 38 percent vote rate, is the left-social democrat party with the highest vote in the world. It is a shame to say, it is the party that has taken the task of managing the most municipal regions in the world with 65 percent of the population. It is the party that all left-social democrat parties in Europe and the world have their eyes on, and are examining its struggle and politics as to how the left is rising in Turkey while the far-right is rising in Europe. From here, I address all our sister parties, and all parties, all members, all countries that stand by democracy and stand in the right place in terms of protecting the honor and dignity of nations and peoples against these bandit states, colonialist states, and imperialist states in the world: We will not remain silent against this banditry, we must not.

"MADURO WAS A LEADER CRITICIZED BY THE WORLD"

This does not mean defending Maduro's past administration. Maduro was a leader who held unfair elections in his own country, treated his own people unfairly, kept more than 20,000 dissidents in prisons, eliminated fair political competition in his own country, and was criticized by the world system. Maduro should have been warned, criticized, invited to democracy, forced within the rules by the world's structure that cares about and centers institutions and rules, and whatever was to be done should have been done under the roof of the United Nations.

"TRUMP WAS NOT INTERESTED IN MADURO'S AUTOCRACY, BUT WHETHER HE WAS PRO-AMERICAN OR NOT"

In those days, when Maduro was committing injustices, Mr. Erdoğan was saying 'my dear brother' and patting him on the back. An autocrat in a country, those who try to suspend democracy in a country, should be invited to the world's non-democratic ground. Whatever is to be done about this, it must be done together. Institutions, rules, and structures exist for this. Otherwise, let's choose a big brother, let him take the stick in his hand, and let him give the adjustment. From there, they turn and try to give adjustments to other sides tomorrow. For this, as the Republican People's Party, we are not interested in whether Maduro is an autocrat or a democrat, but whether he is pro-American or not. Against this attitude of Trump, we must defend the world order, defend the United Nations system, and again in the world—now nuclear weapons are in everyone's hands like the world—there is a danger of the world being destroyed from its roots with the third world war. Here, we must all defend the world's peace and the world's tranquility together. Those like Trump roar as long as those in front of them remain silent. Those like Trump grow as long as those in front of them cower. We are a nation that knows how to repel those who grow like Trump, those who roar like Trump, and even those who come to invade and occupy. Everyone will watch their step.

"THERE IS NO SUCH LOOT, MR. TRUMP!"

The Treaty of Westphalia was signed 400 years ago; now the borders of states, non-interference in internal affairs, and definitions of national sovereignty have been accepted. He came and messed things up for 4 years, raided Senate buildings and whatnot in the election he lost, left, was indigestible, came back with half a percent, and will take the system back 400 years. There is no such loot, Mr. Trump, there is no such loot!

'REGRETTABLE INCIDENT' REACTION: "AS IF AN EGG WAS BROKEN"

So what happened? After these things happened to Maduro, the world turned and looked at Erdoğan, who said 'my friend, my brother, my dear, my soul.' 48 hours, not a 'tick,' not a tick! Only when, only when the reactions rose and reached the sky. Only when our criticisms settled on a plane that the voters who voted for the entire AK Party and MHP also agreed with; first 'let's all attack Özgür Özel together,' that didn't work either, yesterday he came out and there is no 'Hey Trump' or anything. If that happens before the election, if there is a need, he used to tell Merkel and such, like that... He says, 'A regrettable incident occurred 11,000 kilometers away.' 'Regrettable incident.' As if Trump accidentally broke two eggs, and 'regrettable incident.' He could not condemn what America did. He says, 'I conveyed our country's concerns in my meeting with Mr. Trump.' He probably says: 'Mr. Trump,' he says, 'I don't have anything to say, but Mr. Bahçeli and Özgür Özel are very angry about this. They are also people of my country, their reactions... I don't have anything to say.'

"DID YOU SAY 'WE WILL SEAT MADURO ON A FARM IN ÇORUM'?"

Now let me ask Erdoğan a question. Journalist friends, I hope when they come here to the group tomorrow, they will ask, if they are not pushed and shoved, let's wait for an answer. A senator is speaking next to Trump, and Trump is nodding. He says to Maduro, 'We gave an exit route. Go to Turkey, Trump said,' says Trump. And Trump is doing this. 'He didn't go,' he says. 'He is in New York now,' he says. When Trump said 'go to Turkey,' did he ask Erdoğan, 'If Maduro accepts, I will send him to Turkey. Will you look after him here?' or not? Did you know about this, or did you not? If you knew and said yes, how could you say yes to this? Why did you say yes? Didn't you say, 'My brother Maduro is an elected man. He is standing there, stand tall, don't bow, brother, I was saying to him. How can you say 'package him and bring him, we will look after him here'?' What did you say to him? Did you say, 'We will set aside a place in Çorum, he knows Çorum well, he has a connection, we will seat him on a farm in Çorum' to Maduro? No, if you didn't say it, if you don't know, say 'if you don't know, I don't know.' Couldn't you then turn to Trump and say, 'Who do you think you are, taking someone from another country and placing them in my country, under my sovereignty, on your own authority? Am I managing this country, or are you?' Couldn't you say it, won't you be able to say it?"

News Source: 12punto