Mansur Yavaş responds to claims of 'candidacy offer from AKP'

Leading up to the local elections on March 31, 2024, Sözcü columnist Deniz Zeyrek had made a striking claim regarding Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mansur Yavaş.

Zeyrek alleged that an offer had been made to Yavaş to run as a candidate for the AKP, and stated that Yavaş had rejected this offer.

STATEMENT FROM MANSUR YAVAŞ

While this claim, which surfaced before the election, was widely discussed, a statement came from Mansur Yavaş.

Speaking to journalist Fatih Altaylı, Yavaş said, "There is nothing new. You had already written about the offer the AKP made to me back in 2018. No such offer has come again since then."

Reminding that he had said years ago on a television program that it was being discussed in Ankara that some AKP members had reached out to Mansur Yavaş to offer him the candidacy for Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor, Altaylı noted the following:

"When our journalist friend Deniz Zeyrek said that the AKP had made an offer to Mansur Yavaş for the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayoralty, the neighborhood got a little stirred up.

Was such an offer really made?

The first step in learning about such events is to call the person or persons who are the subject of the claim.

That is what I do.

I immediately called ABB Mayor Mansur Yavaş.

He was at a funeral.

'I will call you as soon as it is over,' he said.

He called and explained the matter.

'There is nothing new. You had already written about the offer the AKP made to me back in 2018. No such offer has come again since then,' he said.

In other words, the event Deniz Zeyrek mentioned happened 6 years ago and was an event I had also written about.

I had said on my television program that it was being discussed in Ankara that some AKP members had reached out to Mansur Yavaş to offer him the candidacy for Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor.

Upon this, Mayor Mansur had called and provided information.

The offer was true. According to Yavaş's account, the event unfolded as follows:

'The real situation is this. Some AK Party members were eager for me to be a candidate and sounded me out. I thanked them in a polite manner, saying, 'I might gain an office, but I would lose my reputation.' The message regarding this and my response are on record.'

As you can see, since the AKP received its answer from Mansur Yavaş 6 years ago, there is no question of a new offer."

News Source: 12punto