Ekrem İmamoğlu responds to the question: 'Is your opponent Kurum or Erdoğan?'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was a guest on journalist Fatih Altaylı's YouTube channel.

VACATION CRITICISMS: DID I GIVE THEM AN OPPORTUNITY? YES, I DID

Making evaluations regarding the March 31, 2024 local elections, İmamoğlu noted the following regarding the vacation trips that sparked controversy after the 2019 local elections;

"There is a sentiment of 'how do we please people' under Turkey's conditions. I am the kind of person who, for example, the ski vacation you mentioned was actually a 2-night visit. Because my children and wife were going to go, but I wasn't going to, but then the Elazığ earthquake coincided, and when we went there, my wife said 'let me come with you,' so we went to Elazığ together, and then I briefly went to join my children with my wife from there. If you ask about the other one, it was already a tiring period, and when we said let's spend two or three days at our summer house, it rained and we came back; it turned out we had an underpass in Eminönü that flooded every time it rained. If I hadn't done this, that is, if I hadn't gone to our summer house in Bodrum, what kind of feeling would that be? Then what happened? I couldn't go again. The leave I took as vacation while at the İBB is very little compared to any other mayor. I spent an incredible amount of time working in Istanbul. (Did Mr. Tayyip take more leave or did you?) Mr. Tayyip is indescribable anyway, Mr. Tayyip's excuses are quite high up. I spent serious time working. But did they manage a perception? They did. Did I give them an opportunity? I did. When I saw the situation there that day, I told our newly appointed general manager at the time, 'Prepare a report on where and how this is happening.' We have reached the end of our main findings, covering nearly 150 points everywhere from Silivri to Tuzla to prevent floods and water inundations worth billions of liras."

'MURAT KURUM OR ERDOĞAN?'

Fatih Altaylı asked İmamoğlu, "Who do you see as your opponent?"

İmamoğlu's response was as follows;

"Whoever is speaking against me or addressing me that day, I put them there. But Mr. Kurum and the President are neck and neck; they take care to make sentences about me almost every day. Of course, our opponent is Kurum, but I don't need to state the President's feelings regarding Istanbul."

News Source: 12punto