Erdoğan’s veiled threat to Özel: 'We said little, let him understand much'

President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan responded to the criticisms directed at him by CHP leader Özgür Özel from Beştepe. Erdoğan’s words, “We said little, let him understand much,” were interpreted in political circles as a “veiled threat.”

Don't leave your news choices to an algorithm - decide for yourself what you read. Add 12punto to your preferred sources!

Erdoğan’s veiled threat to Özel: 'We said little, let him understand much'

President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at the “Library 5.0 and Human-Centered Digital Transformation International Conference” held at the Beştepe Nation’s Library.

Giving messages regarding politics in the final part of his speech, Erdoğan responded harshly to the statements made by CHP Chairman Özgür Özel at a rally in Ümraniye the day before.

REITERATED THE “OCTOPUS” ANALOGY

In his speech, Erdoğan also touched upon the recent investigations into CHP-run municipalities.

Repeating the “octopus” analogy he had used previously, Erdoğan pointed to allegations of corruption in local administrations.

Criticizing the CHP leadership’s reaction to this issue, Erdoğan described Özgür Özel’s words as “delusional.”

“THE LINK BETWEEN HIS MIND AND HIS TONGUE IS BROKEN”

Erdoğan criticized Özgür Özel’s political style with harsh expressions and made the following assessments:

“I followed the delusions of the Main Opposition Party Chairman yesterday with genuine embarrassment, both on behalf of his own party and our country’s politics. It is unfortunately unclear whether the person speaking is the chairman of Turkey’s second-largest party or an insult-spewing machine with broken settings. Turkey does not deserve such a political style. When the mind is impoverished, the intellect becomes arrogant, and the tongue loses its brakes. There is, I say this with genuine sadness, an individual whose link between his mind and his tongue has completely broken, and whose ears do not hear what comes out of his mouth.”

“HE IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY AGGRESSIVE WITH HIS RHETORIC”

Erdoğan defined Özel’s recent outbursts as “aggression” and continued his words as follows:

“This individual is becoming increasingly aggressive with the lies he tells every other day, the slanders he throws at everyone, and the insults he hurls in public squares. As the corruption of the criminal organization that has wrapped its tentacles around local administrations like an octopus is exposed, this individual panics, becomes uglier, and loses control completely.”

“WE WILL NOT CONDEMN THE NATION TO A LANGUAGE THAT POISONS POLITICS”

President Erdoğan also addressed the issue of political style, emphasizing that the AKP would maintain its distance from such rhetoric:

“We will certainly not condemn our nation to this language, which becomes more vulgar and unpleasant by the day, and to these toxic discourses that infect politics. Yesterday, both our deputy chairman, our party spokesperson, and my other colleagues gave this individual the answer he deserved without stooping to his level.”