Arslan, a figure close to Mansur Yavaş, announces resignation from ASKİ Spor following backlash

Following the elections, independent MP Yüksel Arslan, who resigned from the İYİ Party, made a post on his X account that was interpreted as targeting the CHP and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor İmamoğlu without explicitly naming them.

 Writing that "Those who are hand-in-hand with the enemies of the founding will and the founding principles set forth by Atatürk cannot be 'Soldiers of Mustafa Kemal'," Arslan argued, without naming names, that some politicians "open doors to European capitals" to climb the career ladder, and stated, "Those whose only concern is their own career and walking the path drawn for them are called 'Project Children', not 'Soldiers of Mustafa Kemal'."

ABB Mayor Mansur Yavaş also reacted to Arslan's words, which caused harsh criticism. Yavaş wrote on social media, "I would like it to be known that I do not approve of these statements and the text published by independent MP Mr. Arslan. Furthermore, it should be well known that such statements do not fit my political style. My advice to him is to delete this tweet."

'I DID NOT MEAN İMAMOĞLU BUT I SEE THAT IT WAS UNDERSTOOD THAT WAY'

MP Yüksel Arslan, who also served as Yavaş's chief of staff for a period, announced that he would resign from his position as President of the ASKİ Sports Club following this reaction from Yavaş. In a statement to journalist Gürkan Hacır, Arslan said the following:

"Mansur Bey definitely had no knowledge of this post. I did not mean İmamoğlu. But I see that it was understood that way. I would never think of harming Mansur-ağabey. But it appears that I am causing harm, even if unintentionally. Therefore, I will also step down from the ASKİ Sports Club Presidency on Monday morning."