'Akın Gürlek' investigation into Özgür Özel! Successive reactions from CHP

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an ex officio investigation into CHP Chairman Özgür Özel due to the remarks he made about Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek at a rally held yesterday.

The investigation launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has drawn successive reactions from CHP figures.

While CHP Spokesperson Deniz Yücel stated, "This enemy law you are applying will not work on us, and it will not work," CHP Deputy Chairman Gökan Zeybek, Group Deputy Chairman Murat Emir, Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik, and Youth Branch Chairman Cem Aydın also emphasized in their statements that they stand with Özgür Özel.

"THIS ENEMY LAW WILL NOT WORK ON US"

CHP Spokesperson Deniz Yücel said, "We will not be defeated by this order of lawlessness you have created. This enemy law you are applying will not work on us, and it will not work."

Yücel expressed his reaction in a post on his social media account. In his post, Yücel stated the following:

"The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an ex officio investigation into our Chairman, Mr. Özgür Özel, on charges of 'threatening a person performing a judicial duty to prevent them from performing their duty' and 'publicly insulting a public official due to their duty.' Of course, we are not surprised! We will not be defeated by this order of lawlessness you have created. This enemy law you are applying will not work on us, and it will not work. Our armor is the youth, the retirees, the minimum wage earners, the low-income earners! Our armor is the oppressed! Our armor is our 86 million citizens!

If you have a judiciary that acts on orders, we have truths that we will never tire of speaking, and a courage too great to be contained by the dungeons of Silivri! You are the ones who direct the judiciary with instructions, you are the ones who try to criminalize clean people by lining them up and treating them like terrorists, you are the ones who target the Republican People's Party, our Chairman, the future president, and our mayors, and you are the ones who disregard the rule of law and judicial independence. But we are the guilty ones, we are the ones being investigated, is that so? You cannot arrest the millions in the squares, you cannot finish us off! Those who fight against the nation will lose. You will lose!"

"WE STAND TALL FOR THE FUTURE OF TURKEY"

CHP Deputy Chairman and Istanbul MP Gökan Zeybek stated, "Smear campaigns, pressures, investigations... These are the footsteps of defeat and collapse. We stand, and will continue to stand, behind our Chairman, Mr. Özgür Özel, without wavering, with determination, and to the end. We stand tall for the future of Turkey. As the party of liberation and foundation, we have not bowed down from the past to the present, and we will not bow down now."

"IT IS OUR DUTY TO SAY THAT HE WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE"

CHP Group Deputy Chairman Murat Emir reacted to the launch of an investigation into CHP Chairman Özgür Özel.

In a post on his social media account, Emir stated, "If a person performing a judicial duty is constantly violating the law and applying enemy criminal law, it is our duty to say that one day he will be held accountable, Akın Gürlek!"

CHP İstanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik reacted to the launch of an investigation into CHP Chairman Özgür Özel.

In a post on his social media account, Çelik stated, "Every member of the Republican People's Party, Turkey's leading party, is ready to stand tall by our Chairman Özgür Özel against any kind of investigation and attack. We are not afraid! We will not waver! We are determined!"

CHP Youth Branch Chairman Cem Aydın also reacted to the launch of an investigation into CHP Chairman Özgür Özel.

In a post on his social media account, Aydın stated, "As the youth of the Republican People's Party, Turkey's leading party, who are dedicated to the struggle for justice and democracy, we are at the side of our Chairman Özgür Özel. You cannot scare us with investigations or attacks. Either all together, or none of us!"

WHAT DID ÖZGÜR ÖZEL SAY?

Reacting to video recordings showing police officers collectively filming mayors and a former MP who were detained in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality operation while they were being taken for a health check yesterday, CHP Leader Özgür Özel said, "Akın, you hit a hard rock. I will not see this again. We come like gentlemen, we do our action, and we disperse. But don't push me to the limit, or we will gather not to disperse."

Özel spoke as follows:

"Yesterday morning, after this operation, while our friends were being taken for a health check and then to the courthouse, they lined them up like a rope, with a treatment used for criminal organizations and terrorist organizations in very old times, just as soldiers did during coup periods. They lined them up according to age and seniority. They gave each of them a police officer on both arms, turned on the camera, and made them pass in front of it one by one. They tried to discredit our friends with police on their arms. Let me say this here: That image yesterday perhaps took Turkey back 60, 70, 80 years. That image is one where coup plotters defy the nation, where they defy the nation by saying, 'Do you see not who you elected, but who I am holding by the arm?' The police in that image are just following orders. But whoever gave the instruction for that image, whoever had it given, whoever wanted that image, until I see them grabbing this nation by the collar and slamming their head to the ground, there is no stopping for me. There is no peace. I will make those who had that video filmed rub their noses on the ground before this nation, like this, like this, like this. Akın, you hit a hard rock, son, you hit a hard rock, you hit a hard rock. Pull yourselves together, Akın, you hit a hard rock. I will not see this again. I will not see that indecency again, I will not see it, I will not see it. I am asking all of Istanbul. I am asking all of Istanbul. Let them hear the answer from here. If anyone films an image again that will weigh heavily on the families, children, or elders of our people, are you ready to make both the one who films it and the one who had it filmed regret it a thousand times over? Are you ready? We are at the end of our patience. I say this with the determination in Saraçhane. I will come, I will tear it all down. Pull yourself together. We come like gentlemen, we do our action, and we disperse. But don't push me to the limit, or we will gather not to disperse. I am also saying this to Mr. Erdoğan here, I am saying it to anyone in the AK Party who has a brain, anyone who will pull themselves together. From here on, the end of this business is bad. Take him out of here, take him."