Yeniden Refah Party leader Erbakan announces he will be a presidential candidate

Yeniden Refah Party leader Fatih Erbakan answered questions from participants at the 'Söz Onda' (The Word is His/Hers) program of the Ankara City Council, moderated by Deputy Chairman Suat Kılıç.

THE "IMRALI" AGENDA

Erbakan stated, "We had expressed that we do not want the terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan in Ankara or on the mainland. He should remain where he is. In fact, he should have been executed long ago. We see even the sparing of his life as a great favor granted to him."

Erbakan continued as follows:

"As far as we can see and know, we see a process unfolding where such a call is made, and as a result of this call, Öcalan is released from prison by benefiting from the 'right to hope,' and thus the current government makes the constitutional amendment it desires with the support of the DEM Party. Of course, it is not very transparent, but in broad strokes, this is how it is. We have clearly stated before that we are not on the side of such a process. Why?

Because, firstly, we see it as a disrespect to our martyrs and veterans. We would evaluate any form of house arrest or release for Abdullah Öcalan as a wrong done to the memory of our martyrs and to our veterans. Along with this, we have previously stated that this is an approach that would make us look helpless. In other words, I would like to express that the image of 'we, as a state and as a nation, are pinning our hopes on Abdullah Öcalan, that we can only get rid of this trouble with a call from him, that we have struggled for 40 years with our armed forces, our security forces, and all the institutions of the state, and yet we could not cope, so let Abdullah Öcalan support us and help us, let him save us from this' would, as I said, make us look helpless."

RECENT DETENTIONS AND ARRESTS

Fatih Erbakan spoke as follows:

“Such interventions shake confidence in Turkey. I, of course, find the practices extremely harsh. Here, a political party chairman is taken, carried away, and arrested while he is at dinner, while he is at a restaurant in the evening. Now, he is in a position to come if you invite him; his address is known, the address of his headquarters is known. He is a known person who has been involved in politics before. He has not committed murder, he has not been caught drug trafficking, he has not been caught doing something contrary to morality. Here, he is always going to be treated this way because of a word he said, because of a thought he expressed. He should be invited, and his statement should be taken.

And of course, we think it would be much more appropriate to try him without arrest rather than with arrest. Whether we agree with his views or not is a separate issue; being his political rival is a separate issue. But I want to express that these treatments, this practice, is not appropriate. The same situation actually applies to journalists. Recording and publishing a meeting secretly and without permission is, of course, not appropriate, and it does not comply with press ethics. But the arrest of journalists also creates an image of harshness. It emerges as a picture that negatively affects the view of investors towards Turkey, the hopes of our young people in Turkey regarding the future, and even the view of our own people towards Turkey."

"I WILL BE A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE"

Regarding the upcoming Presidential elections, Erbakan said, "The Yeniden Refah Party will field its own candidate this time. To start from the last point, I must state that I will be a presidential candidate. There is a serious expectation and demand for this from our organizations, our staff, and the voters. Also, here, as you know, we waived our presidential candidacy in the previous election. We stated that we withdrew our candidacy during the signature collection process. Of course, we think that it would not be politically or logically appropriate for us not to enter the election in favor of another presidential candidate once again. Hopefully, this time the Yeniden Refah Party will field its own presidential candidate, and it is extremely natural for this candidate to be the chairman of a party," he said.

News Source: 12punto