'Palace' jab at Akşener: Koray Aydın resigns from İYİ Party

Aydın, who had harshly criticized his party's management due to General Chair Meral Akşener's meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Palace and the lack of any explanation regarding the content of that meeting, has resigned from the İYİ Party.

Sharing a written statement on his social media account, Aydın said, "As a Turkish nationalist in love with his country and nation, I will continue my services and my struggle as an Independent Member of Parliament. Goodbye, İYİ Party."

The full text of Koray Aydın's statement is as follows:

Partings are difficult and full of sadness. As brave people in the face of injustice and lawlessness, we founded the İYİ Party with great hope, excitement, and dreams; with great effort, labor, and sacrifice. The İYİ Party was born as the result of a real struggle and story. With its founding, the İYİ Party changed many things in Turkey and became a source of hope for the opposition and our nation. It became the subject of the greatest successes achieved against AK Party governments. However, things started to go wrong in the last two years. The İYİ Party closed in on itself at a time when it was about to open up to the masses, and it had to spend its energy on internal competition by starting a congress process in districts and provinces in an unnecessary and untimely manner before the 2023 general elections. A flawed strategy was pursued during the Six-Table process leading up to the 2023 general elections, despite the full support of authorized bodies. Subsequently, another process of alienation was experienced with a so-called parliamentary candidate preference poll based entirely on marginalization and injustice. Restlessness and distrust began to emerge in the home of the once peaceful and secure İYİ Party Family. In the 2023 Presidential and Parliamentary general elections, we fell into the position of a party that, to put it mildly, "repeated itself," and we did not make any progress. In the 2024 local elections, the rhetoric, actions, and policies that carried water to the government's mill were absolutely rejected by our nation, and the İYİ Party experienced the greatest election defeat in its history. The warnings we made during these processes, both in authorized bodies and personally to the Founding General Chair Ms. Meral Akşener, were ignored. Our provincial and district organizations that objected to the flawed decisions and wrong rhetoric in the local elections were marginalized. Although congresses were held after these failures, a full and complete self-criticism could not be made. As of today, the İYİ Party has unfortunately lost one-third of its 617 thousand 513 members from the beginning of 2023, and more than half of the votes it received in the 2023 general elections in the 2024 local elections. This entire process of melting and regression in the İYİ Party took place under the direction and management of Ms. Akşener herself. During all these periods, we made maximum effort, acted extremely sensitively, and were meticulous so that the İYİ Party would not be harmed. We expressed our views, ideas, and suggestions clearly and netly in authorized board meetings. We never spoke or debated internal party issues in front of the press and the public. The founding story of the İYİ Party and its struggle in Turkish politics will of course be written by historians and experts on the subject and will be the subject of theses. Here, I find it necessary and sufficient for this statement to provide a summary answer to the question, "For what purposes did the İYİ Party set out?" The İYİ Party, of which I was the Founding Organization Chair, set out as a party that embraced the entire Turkish nation with its nationalist, democratic, and developmentalist identity, with Turkish nationalists forming its main backbone; not to go to the feet of those who trampled on Turkish nationalism, which is the founding idea of the Turkish state. The İYİ Party set out as the Movement of the Good and the Brave to pave the way for rights, justice, and civilization in Turkey, against all kinds of injustice and lawlessness, and against the one-man regime symbolized by the Palace; not to pave the way to the Palace.

AKŞENER-ERDOĞAN MEETING

I made two important statements, one week apart, stating that if the subject and content of the meeting held by the İYİ Party Founding General Chair Ms. Meral Akşener with the President at the Palace, without the party's knowledge, were not explained clearly and netly, the founding philosophy of the İYİ Party would be shaken to its core and would lead the party to disintegration. While the İYİ Party base and our dear nation showed great interest and favor to our calls, the İYİ Party management remained insensitive and indifferent to my statements; it did not take my concerns, warnings, and suggestions into account; it did not take the necessary steps in a timely, sufficient, and appropriate manner. The developments in the two months since the 5th Extraordinary Grand Congress of the İYİ Party clearly revealed that there was no change in the party in terms of management approach. After the last congress, while we were expecting a gathering, recovery, and embrace in the İYİ Party, we were shaken by resignations one after another. While we were expecting new participants, we had to see expulsion requests made for flimsy reasons. At the point reached; I have sadly come to the conclusion that our presence, views, ideas, and suggestions are no longer needed much in the İYİ Party.

"IT WAS THE LAST STRAW"

The well-known meeting at the Palace and the subsequent developments were the last straw in reaching this conclusion. Therefore, this conviction of mine is the result of a certain accumulation based on a process of approximately two years. On August 25, 2017, while leaving our former party, which was our father's home and to which we dedicated our lives, I expressed these words: "I have no interests or calculations. What I will be is no more than what I am currently. My only desire is to fight until my last breath to leave a more prosperous Republic of Turkey to our children and grandchildren." I am at the same point today. As a result of long consultations with my fellow İYİ Party members; for the reasons I have summarized, I am sadly resigning from the İYİ Party, of which I was a member of the Founders' Board and an Ankara Deputy, and where I undertook important duties in certain periods. I wish success to the current General Chair of the İYİ Party, Mr. Müsavat Dervişoğlu, and his management. I express my gratitude to all my fellow travelers who have worked, sweated, and struggled at almost every level of the İYİ Party since its founding, I grant my rights if I have any, and I wish for them to grant theirs as well. As a Turkish nationalist in love with his country and nation, I will continue my services and my struggle as an Independent Member of Parliament. Goodbye, İYİ Party.

FIRST ASSESSMENT FROM KORAY AYDIN AFTER RESIGNATION

Koray Aydın, who announced that he had parted ways with the İYİ Party with a long statement on his social media account, had used the phrases "The well-known meeting at the Palace and the subsequent developments were the last straw" in his resignation text. Aydın spoke to halktv.com.tr after his resignation.

Koray Aydın made the following assessment regarding his resignation, which is widely discussed in the political agenda:

"I was preventing a segment of society from resigning. They wanted to. I pushed them until today, that is. There have already been many resignations in the party.

I lost the congress. I went home early that night and went to sleep. There were many resignations that night. I couldn't prevent it.

Now there will be those who leave. It starts from tomorrow. I will remain independent for a while.

We have no intention or desire to establish a party or do anything. I am not thinking of going to any party either.

But in our political life, that is, I have not changed direction. All I did was, I have a stance against the course of the country.

In this regard, we left our own parties. Because we left because it deviated from that path. Now, in the current situation, it is a decision not to be a partner in the wrong during a period when problems are being experienced.

I have no intention of establishing a new party. I will not join any party.

"MÜSAVAT DERVİŞOĞLU CALLED HALF AN HOUR BEFORE MY STATEMENT"

I did not call any deputy. Because doing that in such a period would not suit me.

I continued on my way independently. At this moment, without informing anyone about this, I did not say 'you come and join too'.

There is no possibility of walking the path with Müsavat Dervişoğlu. He called half an hour before my statement, but I didn't open it, we didn't talk. If he had an intention for me to stay, this had been discussed for 5 days. There was no reason left to open the phone.

He assigned someone from the party yesterday. They said they wanted to come and talk. I said that time is over.

It is not possible for us to take a step back. If he wanted, it could have been done much earlier.

There is no offer from Ms. Meral. The İYİ Party book is completely closed. I was one of the people who brought a large mass to the party. It didn't come by running after Ms. Meral.

The İYİ Party book is completely closed.