Ekrem İmamoğlu to Murat Kurum: 'I would say may God grant everyone such an opponent, but...'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was a guest of İsmail Küçükkaya on Halk TV.

Here are İmamoğlu's statements:

"We have 14 districts where we are neck-and-neck. Our citizens are analyzing things very deeply."

(In response to the question, "Do you have many conservative female voters?"): "I have been in politics for 14 years. We have seen many different fields in Anatolia. There is a public square beyond what we see. If we say we are going to hold a family meeting, everyone comes like that. Researchers say housewives vote more. There is a significant difference. I think we have broken this in Istanbul as well."

WHAT HAS HE DONE IN 5 YEARS?

"We fell right into the middle of Istanbul's struggle with poverty. The election was taken from us; they said there were 700 terrorists at the ballot boxes. How can there not be a single detention? Can I call someone a thief or a terrorist and then call it political rhetoric? Can such a thing exist?"

"We experienced the pandemic in our 6th month in office. We couldn't even get the number of people we lost from TUIK. During the pandemic, local governments were supported the most in the world, but the opposite happened here. There was a decline in income during this entire period. The economy is bad, yet we are building subways."

"The claim that the IMM did nothing and was drowned in debt is a complete lie. They didn't even grant our borrowing requests. Our budget is voted on in November at our municipality; we need borrowing to cover our income and expenses. In some years, 2021 for instance, they didn't allow us to borrow, yet we still managed the treasury."

"I WOULD SAY MAY GOD GRANT EVERYONE SUCH AN OPPONENT, BUT IT WOULD BE RUDE"

When asked by Küçükkaya what kind of opponent Murat Kurum is, İmamoğlu replied:

"I would say may God grant everyone such an opponent, but it would be rude. However, I don't want such an opponent either. I wish he hadn't adopted these mediocre attitudes. We have a history. There is a lot I could criticize."

News Source: 12punto