Özgür Özel compares Erdoğan and İmamoğlu: 'Erdoğan is not invincible, Ekrem İmamoğlu is!'

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, in a statement made in Trabzon, said, “In the last March 31 elections, the CHP defeated the AK Party across Turkey. I defeated Erdoğan. In Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu has defeated Erdoğan four times in a row. Erdoğan is not invincible, but Ekrem İmamoğlu is.”

Özel visited Ortahisar Mayor Ahmet Kaya in Trabzon. The visit was attended by CHP Trabzon Deputy Sibel Suiçmez, Beşikdüzü Mayor Burhan Cahit Erdem, Yomra Mayor Mustafa Bıyık, CHP Trabzon Provincial Chairman Mustafa Bak, Ortahisar District Chairman Haluk Batmaz, deputy mayors, and council members.

Ortahisar Mayor Ahmet Kaya stated that they were greatly honored to host Özel and noted the following:

“I had the honor of working with my esteemed Chairman for 5 years as a deputy in parliament. He was our group deputy chairman at that time. Every time he took the floor, our chests swelled with pride; he represented our group incredibly well. With his knowledge, his equipment, and his defense of our party, he was the pride of us all. He was a value we followed closely. Today, as our Chairman, he is traveling across all of Turkey. Honestly, I wonder how much he sleeps a day, and I also feel sorry for him. It is a very difficult, troubled period, but I see this: today, people who think of Turkey's bright future and value honor and virtue are walking the path with my Chairman. They are also very happy about this. We all know where people who only think of their own interests and benefits are going. Therefore, as people who walk the path with our Chairman and are honored by it, we are very happy to host our Chairman in our municipality today.”

'I AM VERY PLEASED TO VISIT AHMET KAYA'

In his speech, Özel expressed his happiness to be in Trabzon and to visit the Ortahisar Municipality. Reminding that they achieved a great success starting with 413 municipalities, which corresponds to 60 percent of the population in Turkey after the March 31 elections, Özgür Özel spoke as follows:

"From there on, we were visiting the municipalities we won. I suppose the closest ones are always left for last. A Trabzon program was being planned around the time of the March 19 coup attempt, but after what was done to our Mayor Ekrem and our friends, the municipal visits were interrupted and a period of 2 major rallies per week began. We successfully held a very important rally in Trabzon in the past weeks together. I had thought about visiting the Ortahisar Municipality that day, but our mayor gave his turn to our Yomra Municipality, which recently joined the family. Today, I am here to offer condolences for Tekin Çağlar, the former president of the Trabzon Pharmacists Chamber and Secretary General of the Turkish Pharmacists Association. When I came to Trabzon, I wanted to visit our Ortahisar Municipality this time.

As our Mayor Ahmet expressed, we spent a full 5 years in Parliament. He was a very successful deputy who represented Trabzon, brought all of Trabzon's problems to the agenda, and brought Trabzonspor to the agenda at least once every week. We used to do good work together during my shifts as well. In fact, during a budget negotiation, he had rolled up Turkey's problems and thrown them. Now I am following the actions taken by Mayor Ahmet; very important work is being done despite all the impossibilities. He is both setting the agenda and setting an example in Trabzon; there is no harm in it, he is even being imitated a little, but he is doing very important work. Whenever I see them, I say, 'Now Ahmet will probably roll up what he has done at the end of 5 years and throw it in the municipal council hall.' That beautiful memory of ours always comes to my mind."

Stating that Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık is being held inside despite his health condition due to a major violation of rights, Özel reminded that Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and Büyükçekmece Mayor Hasan Akgün are also being held, and spoke as follows:

"Your fellow citizens are inside as a result of a great injustice. Their crime is coming to power. To summarize; there will be a change of power in Turkey. After 47 years, the CHP has become the first party, and after 23 years, the Justice and Development Party has become the second party. If we count Beylikdüzü in Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu has defeated Erdoğan four times in a row. Erdoğan was once boasting about invincibility. Today, Erdoğan is not invincible. In the last March 31 elections, the CHP defeated the AK Party across Turkey. I defeated Erdoğan. In Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu has defeated Erdoğan four times in a row. Erdoğan is not invincible, but Ekrem İmamoğlu is. No AK Party member has been able to defeat Ekrem İmamoğlu so far.

WE ARE FACING A COUP ATTEMPT

The main problem is here, and that is why we are facing a coup attempt against a son of Trabzon. They failed politically, they could not appoint a trustee, it was repelled, but on the other hand, they took away his freedom, they are persecuting him. Of course, I see how his fellow citizens from Trabzon, regardless of party affiliation, stand by him every time I come to Trabzon, even on the plane to Trabzon. Even yesterday, while boarding the plane to Trabzon, those we encountered were all AK Party supporters saying, 'They are being unfair to İmamoğlu, we are with you. You are standing by our fellow citizen, we are with you. We didn't vote for you before, but from now on we are with you.' We hear many such things. In the streets of Trabzon, both Trabzon residents, people in the Black Sea region, and all our citizens across Turkey are against this victimization."

Özel thanked the CHP group in the Ortahisar Municipal Council for their success and hard work, and congratulated the members of all parties.

In memory of the visit, Mayor Kaya presented Chairman Özel with a number 45 Trabzonspor jersey with his name on it and filigree jewelry. Özel then took a commemorative photo with those who attended the visit. 

News Source: 12punto