Özgür Özel makes statement on Muharrem İnce and candidacy

Özel gave the following response to a question about whether İnce would be the CHP candidate for İzmir:

"Ekrem Bey informed me last week that Muharrem İnce had requested an appointment with him. I told him, 'You are the Metropolitan Mayor; if the chairman of a party wants to meet, it is appropriate to meet.' 

Ekrem Bey said that after the meeting, Muharrem İnce stated that he attaches importance to winning Istanbul and that he would provide support. I was pleased with this. There is no discussion regarding İzmir with us or with Ekrem Bey. 

We cannot expect him to be a candidate from the CHP; he is not even a member. He is the chairman of another party. A satisfaction survey is being conducted regarding the current mayor in İzmir. If the current mayor is to be the candidate, we will announce it; if not, we will conduct a survey among other candidate hopefuls. Applications have already closed. We cannot expect Muharrem İnce to be a candidate from the CHP. It would be impolite for us to say this. One does not tell the chairman of a party to 'be a mayor.' For this reason, this discussion is a surprise to me."

Speaking to Kıvanç El from DW Türkçe, Özgür Özel said they are in search of a social alliance to avoid losing metropolitan municipalities, adding, "We can win Istanbul and Ankara, whether there is cooperation or not."

"THERE WILL DEFINITELY BE A MEETING"

In response to a question about whether there will be a meeting with HEDEP, Özel replied, "There will definitely be a meeting. We are not in a process where we would make the host of the meeting or who the request came from a subject of tension; that is not right either." 

Özel stated, "Everyone in Turkey has reservations about each other, but because of the respect the CHP has for its voters, because it is the party that founded the Republic in Turkey, and because of its very important role in establishing the multi-party political regime, our strongest muscle is that we are a party that can meet with, visit, and accept visits from all political parties. 

I do not think we will experience any difficulty at this point," he said.

News Source: 12punto