CHP Chairman Özgür Özel: 'I condemn those who try to mix bullets and blood into politics'

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel paid a 'congratulatory' visit to Doğanşehir Mayor Mehmet Bayram as part of his contacts in Malatya.

During the visit, he addressed the crowd gathered in front of the municipality from the top of a bus.

Özel stated that the Doğanşehir district also suffered great damage during the disaster of the century that occurred on February 6, 2023.

Reminding that he set out on the morning of that day and came to Doğanşehir, Özel explained that they carried out work to heal the wounds of the earthquake with the support of CHP municipalities.

''THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION MUST BE ELIMINATED''

Stating that they cannot lift Doğanşehir up with the power of the municipality alone, Özel said, “Malatya deputies need to mobilize, and the distinction between government and opposition must be eliminated. Doğanşehir cannot stand up with its own resources, but with the resources of the Republic of Turkey, Doğanşehir will stand up, and Malatya will stand up. Just show who you stand with. Politics is a matter of taking sides and setting priorities. If you stand with wealthy contractors, with cronies, with the 'gang of five,' Doğanşehir will remain a ruined city. But if you truly love these people, let's lift it up together.”

Emphasizing that they are always by the side of tobacco producers in Doğanşehir, Özel expressed that as the CHP Chairman, he will continue to stand by every issue faced by tobacco producers in Doğanşehir, Adıyaman, and Besni.

''THE MUNICIPALITY OF DOĞANŞEHİR, WITH A POPULATION OF 38 THOUSAND, HAS A DEBT OF 50 MILLION TL''

Stating that unemployment is one of the country's biggest problems, Özel said, “We won the municipality; you all have unemployed children, poor children. But unfortunately, municipalities are under heavy debt. The Doğanşehir Municipality, with a population of 38 thousand, has a debt of 50 million TL. Do not forget this: municipalities are not like they used to be; they took their powers away. They burdened them with debt, managed them poorly, and left them in a miserable state. But our mayor will do his best, and as the Chairman, I am behind the Doğanşehir Municipality. We will work for this municipality with everything we have within the Union of Municipalities of Turkey and the presence of social democratic municipalities.”

''I CONDEMN THOSE WHO TRY TO MIX BULLETS AND BLOOD INTO POLITICS''

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel continued his speech as follows:

“We cannot solve all unemployment, we cannot solve all problems. But we will do far more than what can be done with municipal resources. We will do whatever we can. But remember, we will do it with your support, your patience, and your ownership. Today, the Republican People's Party is setting the agenda in politics. There were 20 days left until the elections, we took the agenda and never let it go. Why? We have no intention of fighting with anyone; there were those who fought, we said 'may you be well,' there were those who cursed, we turned a deaf ear. Whatever they said, we talked about real problems. We will continue to do so. They call it normalization; this is the normal. Of course, we will shake hands, of course, we will talk, of course, we will negotiate, but if it doesn't work—which it doesn't—we will fight to the end. As the Republican People's Party, we are against brute force. Yesterday in Pınarbaşı, Kayseri, 5 people beat an innocent person to death with sticks in front of his little daughter and his dear wife just because he rejoiced on election night, and when he fell to the ground, they shot him in the foot. I am announcing it here; first, we took care of our friend's health. We sent our provincial chairman, we assigned a delegation, it was 12 o'clock at night. I told my deputy group chairman that we must not drag Turkey into a conflict or a fight. Yes, they targeted us, they threatened us, they are disrespectful to the citizen's decision, they are showing brute force, and 2 administrators within a party want to sabotage the normalization process. They don't want the Sinan Ateş murder to be discussed. They don't want normal relations to be established with the CHP. They feed off of that. I said, 'Call the deputy group chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party.' We talked at 12 o'clock at night; we said we are advocating for restraint, we said we will not retaliate, but we also said, 'Do not protect these disgraceful people.' I believe that we have all learned lessons from the experiences of those who made brother kill brother before the 80s, who made people from the right and left shed tears, who made mothers anxious and tearful. We do politics with the microphone in our hands, with our hearts, with our minds, and with our conscience. I condemn those who try to conduct politics with sticks, and those who try to mix bullets and blood into politics. I will not sleep, we will not sleep, you will not sleep. The nation sees both the normal and the abnormal, those who want peace and those who want conflict, those who want mothers to smile and those who want to make mothers cry. I am addressing my entire organization here. I am addressing the Republican People's Party members who value my words, those in the Turkey alliance, the 17.5 million who voted for us, and everyone who values my words. We will not bring violence, fighting, and tears back into politics. We are the Republican People's Party. We are the party of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said 'Peace at home, peace in the world.'”

News Source: İHA