Özgür Özel breaks silence on decision not to attend Parliament

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel answered questions from İsmail Küçükkaya on TV100.

During the program, Özel recalled that they would not be attending the new legislative year opening of the TBMM on October 1. Regarding the opening speech to be delivered by AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, he made the following remarks:

"Last year, on October 1, when the President was about to enter the parliamentary hall, we talked with our colleagues and said, 'The President is greeted standing.' We will greet him standing and listen to his speech; if he speaks like a President, we will see him off standing. We said that if he makes a partisan speech after entering the hall, we will not stand up. It was such a speech, and we did not stand up. This year, on October 1, we will not be in Parliament."

Özel also touched upon past controversies and added the following:

"The story of this is the first polemic of the multi-party era. When President Erdoğan was the chairman of a party, we would stand up when he entered the hall, but we would not applaud. After the referendum, we said we would not stand up before the chairman of a party, and we sat down. There were a few times when we did stand up. When we became the leading party after 47 years, I called all party chairmen, starting with the President, during the following holiday. It was a duty that fell to me. And I said I wanted to visit them all, and I did. Because this is the norm. This comes from Manisa. As AK Party and CHP members, we get up on holiday mornings in Manisa and perform the prayer. We go to the cemetery, and we hug and kiss whoever we see. We go to funerals of martyrs and weddings. If there is no problem for us, there shouldn't be one in general."

'COMMISSION' STATEMENT

Speaking about the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission established in the TBMM as part of the new opening process called a 'Terror-Free Turkey', Özel stated, "There are sick detainees and convicts. Regulations need to be made regarding these people. Regulations should be made regarding the two trustees. There are articles in the execution regime that need to be regulated quickly. The commission is the nation's commission; even if our worldviews are diametrically opposed, we have to be there in this process. There is an issue of stalling and delaying there."

"BAHÇELİ'S STATEMENT IS VALUABLE"

Evaluating the words of MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli regarding the operations against CHP municipalities, "If they are right, they should be acquitted; if they are guilty, they should receive the necessary punishment," Özel said, "I hope, my greatest expectation is that the indictment will be issued within the month of October. Devlet Bahçeli's statement on the indictment is very valuable. Again, various politicians from the MHP occasionally make statements saying, 'Trial without arrest is essential'."

Özel added that they want their friends to be tried without arrest.

News Source: 12punto