Özgür Özel speaks at the rally: 'We will win, you will win'

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel delivered a speech at the “We Do Not Give Up Our Rights, We Do Not Give Up Our Land” rally, held under the leadership of the We Do Not Give Up Our Land Platform and with the support of opposition parties.

The following remarks stood out in Özel's speech:

"I greet you all with respect, as you form a picture like a rainbow where different colors do not interfere with one another. This place is an assembly that brings together segments from different political parties. If governments act against the nation, the people object and take to the squares. Despite all the reactions, the Parliament in Ankara passed a regulation that threatens the land of Muğla. If that place does not hear your voice, then Muğla Atatürk Square is now here.

Despite having enough signatures to oppose the regulation opening olive groves to mines, we reached the number 260 with the support of the DP, DBP, DEVA Party, Future Party, IYI Party, DEM Party, Green Left Party, and 5 independent deputies, without saying 'I will not stand with them.'

According to legend, the olive tree leans into Homer's ear and says; 'I belong to everyone and I belong to no one. I was here before you came, and I will be here after you leave.' It existed before you, and it will exist after you. You will lose.

For the first time, despite all the struggle coming from society, they passed the law in a targeted manner. What is visible is not just Akbelen. We know that nature massacres with extremely dangerous substances will accelerate and increase. For this reason, I ask the Constitutional Court, its esteemed members, and the judges to please put their hands on their consciences while making this decision. Think not of today, but of tomorrow. Not of themselves, but of their grandchildren and future generations; this country needs its olives, its nature, and its environment, not to be plundered. This is our call to the Constitutional Court; we expect justice from you for our grandchildren.

Unfortunately, this government has not been good for our people and our nature. While 1,186 mining licenses were granted in 80 years, 386 thousand permits have been issued during the AKP era. They have included green areas under the scope of mining licenses as soon as they see them. While Turkey has given the world a net zero emission target for 2053, it has opened olive groves to mining with the climate law. This is hypocrisy. We are not against mining, but against this type of savage mining that does not consider the public interest.

To remain silent in this process, where the state's share is 0.9 percent and mines are completely handed over to different countries and centers abroad, is—as has been said many times and rightfully so from this podium today—the greatest act of treason by those who call everyone else traitors."

“WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR THIS GREAT STRUGGLE”

Dear friends, since March 19, our party has been facing judicial harassment, a heavy attack, and lawlessness. It is being targeted. Since that day, we have invited and hosted more than 10 million citizens in squares across 57 actions to object to this process and to struggle. I must express this here: The struggle we are waging is not a political struggle. It is not a struggle for a political party to protect itself. All the democratic structures whose names are behind me derive their power from democracy and the ballot box. Parties exist through the ballot box. If the government in a country changes through the ballot box, there is confidence in the future in that country, and belief and respect for that country throughout the world. Someone who benefits from the blessings of democracy, who once described it as a 'train' and said 'I boarded it when it suited me,' and then gets off that train when it no longer suits them, is directly targeting the ballot box. Trump, across the ocean, where he seeks approval, tells him, 'Is there an election in two years? It doesn't matter. You will win anyway,' and is actually setting the direction for Turkish politics, trivializing the ballot box, and normalizing this process. Those who derive their power from the nation, the people, and the ballot box are protecting the Republic's greatest achievement—the hope for a change of government in the country and your right to decide who will govern—through the struggle they wage in the squares. While this unity brings us together with tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions, we are grateful for this great solidarity and this great struggle put forth by social democrats, conservative democrats, nationalist democrats, Kurdish democrats, liberal democrats, and socialist democrats.

“WE ARE EXERCISING OUR RIGHT TO DEMOCRATIC RESISTANCE”

I would like to end my words with these sentences; as I was coming from hundreds of kilometers away to reach here on the road, when the organizing committee was making the opening with their microphones, they were talking about a great front. Yes, 'front' is a war term, and we don't actually use it easily, but we are at war. We are under attack. Someone has declared war on our future, declared war on our unity, declared war on democracy, and we are exercising our right to democratic resistance against this. We are fighting against evil. We will win. The good will win, the righteous will win, the people will win, the olive trees will win, nature, the environment, and our struggle will win. I greet you all with respect. I am glad you are here. I end as I began. There is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us. We love you all very much. We will win, you will win.”

News Source: 12punto