Özgür Özel: 'Our delegates will only be soldiers of Mustafa Kemal'

The candidate for change in the CHP, Özgür Özel, made statements on the 'Anında Manşet' program hosted by Tuncay Mollaveisoğlu on TELE1.

Giving a message to his delegates regarding the congress, Özel said, "They will come here to do whatever is necessary so that the party does not remain in opposition, and I believe in and trust their minds, consciences, and party culture to the end."

"I BELIEVE IN PARTY CULTURE TO THE END"

Özgür Özel's statement regarding the congress is as follows:

“They are people who love their party very much, who love their country very much. They are people who do not want the party founded by Atatürk to remain in opposition again, people who are not satisfied with second place, people who do not want the party's lights to be turned off early on election nights, and people who do not want to hang their heads on election nights and do not want to experience this sadness for days after the election. That is why, without separating in their own provinces and districts, by consulting with people whose minds and consciences they trust, they will come here to do whatever is necessary so that these things do not happen again and the party does not remain in opposition. And I believe in and trust their minds, consciences, and party culture to the end.

"WE ARE ALL SOLDIERS OF MUSTAFA KEMAL"

They say; ‘the delegate of this place or that place is a soldier delegate’. It is true that our delegate is a soldier; like all of us, we are soldiers of Mustafa Kemal. Other than that, a CHP delegate cannot be anyone's soldier. They say; ‘This mayor secured the elections in his district to be a candidate again, he took the delegates. They will do what he says’. I would not attribute such a thing to our mayors, nor would I believe that after such a critical election in the 100th year of the Republic, while our voters are experiencing such hopelessness and emotional detachment, our delegates would ever act by thinking of their own interests or someone else's. I would never attribute that to them.”

Upon Tuncay Mollaveisoğlu stating that there were allegations that he was being called and pressured by both the headquarters and Özgür Özel to be persuaded, Özel said, “We know that the headquarters is doing this.” Özel stated that it was impossible for such an action to be taken by them.

When Mollaveisoğlu asked when he decided on 'Change', Özel said he made this decision twice.

"WE MUST ENGAGE IN SELF-CRITICISM, WE MUST APOLOGIZE"

“Think of a mayor who is of no use to himself or the party, but this friend of ours is a ‘pro-change’ advocate. This friend will not be reappointed. I do what is in the high interest of the party and the high interest of the public. If I appoint someone just because they supported me, it is a betrayal of the party; if I punish a successful mayor because they did not support me, it is a betrayal of the party.

I decided to break away when the approach was ‘We didn't lose, we just didn't win’, and this emotional detachment occurred.

In other words, when I saw that they thought ‘Actually, a 48.5 percent vote rate is not a low rate, it is a success’ and that they wanted to continue as if nothing had happened, I detached from the issue. I was of the opinion that we must engage in self-criticism, we must apologize, ‘we must pave the way for the change process and our chairman should manage the process’, but I saw that they would not do it. That is where I reached my own breaking point. But this was not a decision to be a candidate.”

Stating that he subsequently spoke with the party's leading figures, the organization, and Kılıçdaroğlu, Özel said, “I saw that it was not about sacrifice, but that I had to be a soldier of 'Change' or take responsibility. And I decided to become a candidate in the middle of August.”

Özel stated that his team is a young, dynamic, and broad cadre, and that they prepared their position papers with this team.

"EVEN THE MAD DO NOT SPEAK IN A HOUSE OF MOURNING FOR THE FIRST THREE DAYS"

Özel stated that he suggested to Kılıçdaroğlu after the election that he make a different speech and say ‘I apologize’, but that this was not accepted. Recounting that while talking to an elder from the party after the election, he was told ‘No one was angry with us, did you see?’, Özel said the following:

“I said, ‘Have you ever been to a house of mourning?’. ‘Even the mad do not speak in a house of mourning for the first three days. Between the third and seventh day, the mad begin to speak; if they are right, people listen, if not, they chase them away. After the seventh day, those who are not blood relatives begin to speak slowly. After forty days, if you have done something wrong, even your child or spouse will talk behind your back.’ I said, ‘Do not hope for anything just because no one is speaking by looking at the third day of mourning. People are waiting for us to do what is necessary. They attribute this to Mr. Kemal as well, and if this is not done, it will first turn into confusion, then hurt, then anger, and then hatred, and they will not keep us here.’ I was not a candidate when I said these things.”

"ECEVIT WAS ALSO BY ISMET PASHA'S SIDE WHEN HE WAS LOSING ELECTIONS"

Özel stated that he does not criticize decisions in this process that he did not object to at the time they were made. Responding to the criticism directed at him, ‘You were there too’, Özel said the following:

“My brother, if we accept the premise that ‘You were there too when the election was lost, you cannot be an option’, we could not have carried out the Cyprus Peace Operation. Bülent Ecevit was a deputy in 1957 and chairman in 1972. A 15-year deputy. During this time, he was a deputy, minister, and secretary-general. They parted ways during the March 12 Memorandum, he became a candidate and became ‘Karaoğlan’. I am not saying ‘I will be Karaoğlan’, nor do I consider myself equal to Ecevit, but a chairmanship candidate for a party does not come out of a cargo package; they will be one of the cadres. A chairmanship candidate for a party does not fall into the garden from a meteor. Parties do not have political laboratories. You cannot do it. One of your existing cadres will take responsibility. I am someone who has said I am willing to both make sacrifices and take responsibility. A party produces a chairman from its own cadres; if it does not, it sits and thinks about the reasons for that stagnation. If there were four candidates competing who were much more effective and competent than Özgür Özel, Özgür Özel would have voted for one of them. But if you say to Özgür Özel's candidacy today ‘You were there too’, Ecevit was also by Ismet Pasha's side when he was losing elections, my brother.”

HE GAVE A MESSAGE TO THE VOTERS

Özel continued his words as follows:

“There is such a thing as empathy. Politics is something done genuinely. If you read the voter's emotion correctly, you become the government. It is possible for people who read the emotion similarly to make similar proposals.

I said that the voter is experiencing an emotional detachment. I have seen the voters' resentment in this party. You fight with your roommate, your spouse, your child. Someone gets angry, slams the door, and leaves. Why do they slam it? They slam it so you hear their voice, they slam it so you follow them. Our voters have slammed the door and left many times. If you open the door, maybe they will come, you can persuade them and they will return. In this election, it wasn't a slamming and leaving like that, something happened. We heard it or we didn't, silently and quietly. They got lost in a dark street, and I am running after that voter. Because that will no longer be the case.”

News Source: 12punto