New message from İmamoğlu: 'As long as they remain in power, everything will get worse'

CHP's Presidential Candidate and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has issued a call from Silivri Prison to business people, academics, media members, bureaucrats, artists, and non-governmental organizations. 

In a statement made via his X account, İmamoğlu expressed the following: 

"I am addressing the business people, academics, media members, bureaucrats, artists, civil society figures, and lovers of a democratic and prosperous Turkey of my country.

I know that the state our country has been dragged into by the March 19 coup saddens, worries, and exhausts you all. Our country's economy, which was already not bright, is now more fragile; the investment environment, which has been insecure for a long time, is now riskier. Our universities, which have been trying to be silenced since 2016, and our media world, threatened with imprisonment and heavy fines, are now less free. Our bureaucracy, which they want to turn into the backyard of the palace, is under more surveillance. Total allegiance is demanded from the art community and the world of civil society.

I am certain of this: Every day we delay in fending off the March 19 coup and removing this government, things will get worse. As we witnessed with great sadness yesterday morning, the names in the IMM bureaucracy who put a spoke in the government's wheel, my close colleagues, and their spouses were taken from their homes in the dark of the morning, away from their children, once again. While Istanbul was shaken by an earthquake just four days ago, the government, which should have been busy preparing this precious city—the heart of Turkey—for an earthquake, has set its sights on making the IMM unable to function.

My Dear Citizens,

As long as they remain in power, everything will get worse. The economy is more fragile today than it was yesterday. Tomorrow it will be even more fragile than it is today. Far from the investment environment improving, no one's wealth, the property they inherited from their grandfather or father, the business or company they built and grew with their own labor, or even their diploma will be safe. Universities and the media are less free today than they were yesterday. Tomorrow they will be even less free than they are today. It will be demanded that no one speaks or writes against the government. Those who want to speak or write will either be imprisoned or silenced by the fear of imprisonment or punishment. Universities will consist of concrete buildings, and newspapers and television stations will consist of those who stand close to the government.

Bureaucracy will be less meritocratic tomorrow than it is today. More loyalty to the palace will be the only measure for surviving in the bureaucracy.

The siege around the world of art and civil society will grow even larger. Those who do not obey will not be at ease.

My dear nation,

My citizens who love a democratic and prosperous Turkey,

As certain as I am of what I have said, I am just as certain of this:

We will fend off both the March 19 coup and these dark days. With God's permission, we will send this government away. Sooner or later. At the latest, in the first election...

The reaction given by the nation across the country against the March 19 coup, my citizens filling the rally squares to protect the future of their country and their children, and 15.5 million voters rushing to the ballot boxes to support their presidential candidate, all point to one thing: Getting rid of this government is now just a matter of time.

Fixing the country's economy and investment environment, liberating the country's universities, media, and art world, and making its bureaucracy loyal to the state rather than the government is now just a matter of time.

Those who want to accelerate Turkey's exit from the darkness it has been dragged into,

Business People, Academics, Media Members, Bureaucrats, Artists, Civil Society Figures, I am addressing everyone.

It is up to all of us; the responsibility belongs to us all.

Come, let us make this happen faster together.

Come, let us put the country's economy on track as soon as possible.

Come, let us ensure everyone is secure in their property and assets as soon as possible.

Come, let us liberate our universities and media as soon as possible.

Come, let us save art and civil society from being forced into obedience as soon as possible.

Come, let us work together for this beautiful country to be prosperous, free, and democratic.

Come, let us raise our voices together.

Let us raise our voices together so that no one is separated from their children by police raids in the pitch-black of the morning. Let us raise our voices together so that all state institutions are busy preparing Istanbul for an earthquake.

Let us raise our voices together so that this distorted order, this plunder, and this looting end as soon as possible.

The country belongs to us all, the responsibility belongs to us all."

News Source: 12punto