İmamoğlu's response to Erdoğan's 'toxic opposition' remark: '75 percent are against you! You are smearing them'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu responded to the statement made by President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on his social media account yesterday, which read, "We witness all the symptoms of a toxic opposition mentality that poisons our democracy whenever we look at the main opposition," by saying, "Every day, he refers to the people and society as 'the opposition,' as 'the main opposition.' That is to say, today, 75 percent of Turkey is against you. By addressing that entire 75 percent, you are smearing them."

After attending the March 18 Çanakkale Martyrs' Commemoration Day program held at Edirnekapı Martyrs' Cemetery, İmamoğlu met with the relatives of martyrs who were praying at the gravesites and laid carnations on the graves. From there, İmamoğlu went to the IMM and held a live broadcast on his social media account from the institution's corridor. Responding to Erdoğan's posts from the previous evening during the live broadcast, İmamoğlu said:

"LOOK AT THE SENTENCES IN THE TWEET HE POSTED AT 10:30 PM"

“We are in the month of Ramadan, and in the month of Ramadan, people wish for abundance, peace, and health for their country and nation. But the President of this country... I, last night on social media... At 10:30 PM... That is, people in this country have broken their fast, gone to Tarawih prayers, said their prayers, and returned home; they are waiting for peace, they want peace. The tweet posted by the President, who was elected by this country in the last general election... Or perhaps he is not even aware of it himself. It could be something written and drawn up by some 'know-it-alls' around him... I don't know. But he is responsible for it. Look at the words inside his tweet on a Ramadan evening... And one day after that Ramadan evening, that is, today, we will commemorate our martyrs together. We will express our gratitude to them. We will offer our strongest loyalty to them... And the night before that; while people are being slaughtered in Palestine, while the unemployment problem in Turkey has peaked, while the sense of justice has been shaken, and while there is an environment where nearly 85-90 percent of people do not trust the judicial system; while we are living through a period where a handful of people, whose nature is unclear, are casting aspersions on all our judges and all our prosecutors, look at the sentences in the tweet posted at 10:30 PM by the President of this country, the President elected by the nation's vote.

"75 PERCENT OF TURKEY IS AGAINST YOU, YOU ARE SMEARING THEM"

'Toxic opposition that poisons our democracy!' And I continue. Look inside the sentences... 'Facing us is corruption, theft, harassment, rape, fraud, rottenness!' The President is making these remarks. The President who governs the country is putting these words forward. 'Impertinence', 'disrespect'... Would you look at these words? On a Ramadan evening, while the country's President should be striving to establish peace for his nation, while he should be giving morale to those who have been subjected to injustice and lawlessness, he makes it his profession to attack the opposition, to attack Ekrem İmamoğlu, to attack his close circle, with these sentences he has constructed. And he makes posts on social media like this every day. Every day, he refers to the people and society as 'the opposition,' as 'the main opposition.' That is to say, today, 75 percent of Turkey is against you. By addressing that entire 75 percent, you are smearing them. I just came here from the families of the martyrs. I came from the veterans. I heard what they said. You are ignoring all these feelings, you are insulting people, you are insulting society... Can there be such a management mentality? Whose are the institutions of this state? Whose are the parties that this nation voted for? Can there be such disrespect? Can there be social media posts with such disrespectful sentences toward society, toward the nation?

"I SEE OUR NATION'S PEACE AT RISK"

In that respect, I see our nation's peace at risk, I see it under threat. And our entire nation is forced to deal with a bad administration that eliminates this peace and puts it in a bad situation, and with the President's bad words. People cannot even wake up in peace for a single morning. Judicial members waiting at his door with bags in their hands... 3-5 people, a handful of people... He is already determined to act as a prosecutor on every issue involving Ekrem İmamoğlu... He has put the 'radish in the bag' in front of the nation! Whatever that radish may be? It is a pity, it is a sin. Stop harming this nation, this country; do your job. Those who provide daycare services in this institution are being questioned. Those who open city restaurants are being investigated. People who want the best for this country and work for it are being questioned and tried. Such a thing cannot be. We want peace for this country. We will not take a single step back. Those bad sentences, every word of those bad sentences that I would not even take into my mouth, would not take onto my tongue, would never write, and would not share with the public, are of no consequence.

"I WILL NOT TAKE A SINGLE MILLIMETER BACK"

I state it clearly here: May God protect this country from bad people, from bad feelings, from people who have the spirit to do anything for their seat. And for Him to protect it, I will fight to the end. I will fight for every one of my friends. I will fight for every child of this homeland. I will fight to protect the rights of every brother and sister who comes here to get a job. I will fight for every teacher who cannot be appointed. I will protect the rights and laws of tens of millions of young people in this country who claim their rights and laws are being violated, who are waiting at the state's door, whose turn never comes, but who see that a handful of people are happy. Do not have the slightest doubt about this. I will not take a single millimeter back. May God protect this country. May God not let us be embarrassed before our martyrs and veterans. May He be the means for us to provide the strongest service for the unity and integrity of this country. I am not afraid of any person or institution that you have assigned here, that you use like an apparatus in some way. None. Not a bit. They will all know their place before the nation when the day comes. I say this clearly. In that respect, I will fight to the end so that these bad sentences do not come before this nation's peace again, and so that this era changes as soon as possible."

WHAT DID ERDOĞAN WRITE ON HIS SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT YESTERDAY?

"We witness all the symptoms of a toxic opposition mentality that poisons our democracy whenever we look at the main opposition. Those who do not fulfill their primary responsibilities, along with their chairman and those eyeing that position, spend all their time chasing illusions by dedicating themselves to the election 3 years from now. Even if some try to make their own internal party conflicts and personal ambitions the country's issue, the facts are as clear as day. Facing us is a rotten structure where corruption, theft, harassment and rape, and finally fraud, have engulfed the entire body. From transferring resources to terrorist organizations to scandals of transporting fruits and vegetables in fuel tankers... From making a killing with inflated concert invoices to the impertinence of lecturing women, whatever you look for, it is all there without exception. We follow with a smile the claims of those who cannot even manage their own parties, who cannot put their own houses in order, and who have not yet been able to hold even a single meeting without controversy, to aspire to the administration of the country. Our agenda is clear: We are dealing with the solutions to the country's real needs, such as earthquakes, health, agriculture, energy, the economy, and foreign policy. We are chasing greater successes that will crown what we have brought to our country in the past 23 years. It is this mentality, this practice, that has enabled the AK Party to remain in power for all these years."

News Source: 12punto