Özgür Özel’s TRT challenge to Erdoğan: 'If he's ready, tomorrow evening'

Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel made statements during the 100th Anniversary Republic Park promotion ceremony and simultaneous project openings of the Bolu Municipality.

The CHP leader, who also gave a speech at the event he attended following the CHP's camp in Bolu, touched upon current issues. He harshly criticized President Tayyip Erdoğan.

Targeting the President over the empty seat incident in Parliament, Özgür Özel said, "The gentleman was bothered by the empty seat in Parliament. My mayors' seats are also empty."

The full text of Özgür Özel's speech is as follows:

'WE HAD TWO PRODUCTIVE DAYS'

"Together with this government program, we spent two very productive days discussing how we will produce solutions to the chronic, seemingly unsolvable problems of our citizens, primarily poverty, unemployment, and the hopelessness of young people regarding their future."

PRAISE FOR TANJU ÖZCAN

"At the end of this, we are here to see the progress in the first stage of this 100th Anniversary Republic Park, which Mayor Tanju has rightly emphasized so much, talked about endlessly, and wanted me to see on-site, to see the point the project has reached and the beauty that will emerge when it is fully completed next year, to plant a plane tree in the park all together, and as we just watched, to see that a promise made to our Eastern and Southeastern citizens during the election has been kept at a point one and a half years after the election, and to open these service buildings where, as in every stage of life, both condolences and funeral services—which Mayor Tanju always talks about regarding the satisfaction level—are provided completely free of charge and are highly appreciated by the citizens."

'WE HELD ONE OF OUR MOST MAGNIFICENT ACTIONS'

"We were truly impressed by the beauties of Bolu, this seasonal transition, and the hospitality shown over the two days. Again, on Friday evening, we held our 59th action after March 19 in Bolu and carried out one of the most magnificent political rallies in its history."

'THEY TREAT CHP MUNICIPALITIES LIKE STEPCHILDREN'

"They cut the municipalities' revenues and attack us with unfair and unlawful investigations. The government, which should treat all municipalities equally, treats CHP municipalities like stepchildren. They cancel the certificates of election of mayors chosen by the nation."

'THEY DID NOT DARE'

"They went as far as saying '550 terrorists work at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality' and then, unable to prove even one, saying 'I said this politically before the election.' They went as far as saying 'Istanbul Municipality is giving İSPARK to the PKK, PKK members will work there' and 'DHKP-C militants will distribute Ankara Metropolitan Municipality's water bills.' Those who used state resources and all kinds of disinformation instead of a fair, gentlemanly race did not dare to step onto the scales and compete when they faced the nation."

'THEY ATTACK WITH THE SLANDER OF MADMEN'

"This time, they are going after Republican People's Party municipalities with judicial games and newly created judicial branches. On one hand, there is the file of 93 corruption cases from the previous period that Mansur Yavaş handed over and the AK Party closed. On the other hand, there are 37 major corruption files in Istanbul. In the face of this, they are attacking Mansur Mayor after Ekrem Mayor with the slanders of some madmen who go to the television program or channel operated by Melih Gökçek's son instead of the prosecutor's office, who are guilty themselves, and who get involved in an investigation file they were not part of, then slander the nation, and try to save themselves by becoming slanderers."

'THEY SEIZE COMPANIES WITH SLANDER'

"First they make them slander, then they seize the man's ancestral company. 'Come on, sign the statement I tell you, and I'll give you the company, sit in your seat.' Unbelievable things; slander and I'll give you your property. They call for a second statement and say on the way, 'We have news, we have also detained your wife,' 'Sign here, take your wife, link arms and have your dinner together.'"

'CHP'S ACT OF OFFERING TEA TO THOSE THEY CALLED TERRORISTS BOTHERED THEM'

"CHP's act of offering tea to those they called terrorists bothered them. You do so many things and it doesn't bother the gentleman, but does the empty chair in Parliament bother him? My mayors' chairs are also empty. Ekrem İmamoğlu's empty chair bothers me, Emrah Şahan's empty chair bothers me, Ahmet Özer's empty chair bothers me."

TRT CHALLENGE TO ERDOĞAN

"I say it once again: Let TRT set up the table, let them broadcast, you take Akın Gürlek and all your prosecutors behind you. I will see there what you are accusing me of, what you are doing. We are standing tall against these slanders. I am telling those who write Tayyip Erdoğan's texts from now on: You write them, he reads them on the teleprompter. This is not child's play. I will not let anyone call anyone a thief or say they robbed the municipality without a court decision. If I hear it, you will hear worse, you will be held accountable."

'THEY FIND THE GUILTY FIRST, THEN THE CRIME'

"When a municipality is audited, it is audited by the Court of Accounts, or by financial inspectors, or by civil service inspectors; if a crime is found, a criminal complaint is filed, the prosecutor comes and conducts an investigation, and pursues the culprit along with the evidence of the crime. Whoever is guilty serves their sentence. The Republican People's Party has never objected to these processes, which have been conducted fairly and appropriately throughout its history.

Why would it? These have been going on like this for years. If there is a civil servant who has a fault, especially if it is a politician, we do not carry them, they become a burden on our backs. But the process is not such a process. The process is that they decide in advance who will be accused. The culprit is Ekrem İmamoğlu. Let's find a crime for him."

'THEY ACCUSE THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE AT THE SAME BASE STATION'

"Audits have been done, inspections have been passed, clean records have been obtained, internal audit is clean, external audit is clean, the Court of Accounts is clean, criminal complaints have been filed on that subject before, investigations are clean, but this time let's come, let's take all the files, then let's see what we can find here, let's find a contractor, threaten him with his property, his freedom, and make him say, 'I did this job but sign here, and I gave this much openly.' Even that thing given is not into the mayor's pocket, sometimes he bought a chair for a nursery, sometimes he did something else, even make him say that under duress, let's write it as extortion. Or they dump all the HTS records of a businessman in such and such a place, they dump all the HTS records of the whole municipality. And they find a businessman in that district and an employee from the municipality in that district at the same base station and highlight it, 'I gave money to so-and-so, I don't know the rest,' say that."

'NO PROOF, ONLY SLANDER'

"Where is that money? Where did you find it? None. Who did you give it to? None. No camera footage. Has it been deposited into an account? None. Has it been given to someone? None. Has gold or foreign currency been bought with that money? None. There is no proof, there is slander, they are proceeding based on this. Now, this method is used against so many innocent mayors, for example, Zeydan Karalar, in Adana, he regularly paid the money for a tender given by the AK Party municipality 11 years ago, and when it was finished, he did not give another tender, 'In the meantime, he asked me for money for payment, I gave it to someone.' There is no evidence, 12 years have passed, they are taking Zeydan Karalar. Not that they will do anything to Mayor Zeydan, but to all of Turkey, 'Look, we even took Zeydan Karalar after 12 years and put him away. If we set our minds to it, we can throw anyone in.'"

'EITHER JOIN THE AK PARTY OR BE THROWN INTO SILIVRI'

"'Either join the AK Party or be thrown into Silivri.' They started with such an approach. Now, with some new assignments in Istanbul, to the Anatolian Courthouse, rumors of this have been circulating for a long time, turmoil, spreading fear there, in a situation where anxiety turns into reality, we are in a process where we are struggling with approaches like, 'You will either be thrown into prison or join our party.' The coup process gained a new dimension with the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19. Exactly 200 days have passed since that day. We are currently on the 200th day. Those who betrayed Istanbul with these, I didn't say it, Mr. Tayyip said it. 'Including me, we all betrayed Istanbul,' he said. By God, I have no betrayal to my hometown Manisa, nor to Ankara, nor to Istanbul, nor does any of my friends. We see what Tanju Özcan has done for Bolu."

'HE HAS SOLD OUT ISTANBUL'

"He came and became the Metropolitan Mayor of Istanbul, there were four skyscrapers, now there are 257 skyscrapers. He stabbed 253 daggers into the heart of Istanbul himself, got on a helicopter, with the AK Party Provincial Chairman on one side, a mayor elected from the AK Party on the other, the Land Registry Director on the other, he flew over the city, 'Whose land is this? IETT's. Let's offer it to so-and-so. Whose land is this? That institution's. I promised it to the Qataris.' They are taking notes. Someone who has sold out this city to such people has now come to the Republican People's Party, which has boasted about publishing its tenders on the internet since the day it came to power, and says, look, he says to me, 'You won't believe it but...' he says. Why shouldn't I believe it? I know where the source is, I know what it is. Tanju Özcan says, 'Even if we subtract dollar inflation, we grew by 92%. We grew the Bolu Municipality by 118% in dollar terms. This figure is this much in the European Union, this much in China, it is higher for us.' Do you know how it grew? With one thing, its source is this: he managed it honestly, cleanly, he didn't steal. Before that, they were stealing so much..."

'THEY ARE THREATENING A MAN WITH CLAUSTROPHOBIA WITH HIS SON'

They are examining the man, the child who has claustrophobia, they looked at his property, his assets, his account, his child was lying in the hospital, he had claustrophobia, they are threatening him with his 26-year-old child. If you don't do this, how will your son do inside? Or he is lying right there, right there, Düzce Prison, 40 kilometers from here, it says there, the former general manager of Medya A.Ş. Do you have a husband? No. Do you have a child? Yes. How old is he? This. Who will look after him? 'By God,' she says, 'there is Aunt Kadriye who is 80 years old.' She is 74, she gets angry at me for saying 80. There is Aunt Kadriye who is 74, I have my father who is 80, I have no one else but them."

'HATRED IS SPEWING FROM HIS EYES'

What is he doing? Look at yesterday's statement, 'They took bribes, they robbed the municipality.' Hatred is spewing from his eyes. Prove it, brother, prove it, prove it. It's not that they took bribes, there is an allegation of bribery, there is a false witness, there is a secret witness, there is no indictment. What if there was? There is no trial. What if there was? There is no verdict. What if there was? There is no appeal. What if there was? There is no finalization. For you to say to these men 'they took bribes, they robbed the municipality,' the crime must be proven and finalized. You cannot say this where there is not a single piece of evidence. I forbid you from doing this. These words are for honest, honorable people, while there is a presumption of innocence all over the world, while these people still hold the title of mayor, what you are saying is a crime, you are directing and forcing the judge of the case that will be heard—look, there is no indictment yet, it is at the investigation stage, it can only be heard if an indictment is prepared and accepted—as the head of the executive, with the title of President, saying, 'Don't make me a liar, they took bribes, they robbed the municipality.' Is this how a fair trial works?"

'DID THEY EVER SAY TO MRS. EMİNE, LIFT YOUR HUSBAND, WE ARE TAKING HIM?'

Hey Tayyip Erdoğan, valuable voters of the AK Party, valuable voters of the MHP, this Tayyip Erdoğan did this duty himself. During this duty, he was tried for bribery, extortion, and bid rigging. During these trials, did they ever go to his door at six in the morning? When Mrs. Emine opened the door, did they say, 'Lift your husband, we are taking him'? They even said to Ahmet Özer's wife, 'You step aside, we will take him from the room.' This can only be done during a suicide bomber situation. That is, it is done if you record the suspicion of a bomb trap for the person lying in his house, saying 'We will take him.' They pushed the woman, they went and took Ahmet Özer from his bed themselves. Did anyone ever, one day, stand at Mrs. Emine's door and say they came to take Mr. Tayyip? Did anyone ever see Mr. Tayyip, who was the Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor at the time, going to a doctor's examination with police on his arm? Did they do this character assassination to you, and you are doing it now?"

News Source: 12punto