Berhan Şimşek, facing expulsion: CHP is now İmamoğlu Holding, with Özgür Özel as CEO

Former CHP Istanbul deputy Berhan Şimşek made statements regarding the ongoing debates within the CHP and the lawsuit concerning the party convention.

"Mr. Özgür Özel is acting as a carrier pigeon. This place is now a holding company, İmamoğlu Holding. Its CEO is Özgür Özel," said Şimşek, adding, "There are 46 testimonies and 96 suspects regarding the suspicious convention. The prosecutor has taken the statements and conducted the investigation. Ekrem Bey and Özgür Bey, they all owe their political careers to Kemal Bey."

Berhan Şimşek, who is facing expulsion from his party, answered questions from Ahmet Hakan on the program "Tarafsız Bölge" (Neutral Zone) broadcast on CNN Türk.

Key highlights from Şimşek's statements are as follows:

I received the notification for the expulsion request under Article 68/B 15 days ago. I became a candidate against Özgür Özel at the 21st extraordinary convention. I gathered 92 signatures, but they did not allow me to run because I was 10 minutes late. I was going to explain that what was being done was wrong, but I was not permitted because we were 10 minutes late. The reason for my delay was that the Chairman was speaking, and I waited so as not to be rude. My actual reason for expulsion was the speech I made outside. The expulsion request was filed on September 15-16 under Article 68/B of the party bylaws. This is being done so that 'Berhan Şimşek cannot be a candidate anywhere.' This article is known for cases of praising another party, or slandering and belittling one's own party. None of these apply here. This is being done entirely to prevent me from being a candidate. If I had been a candidate, it was clear what would happen to me. They would have said, 'Stop, there is an expulsion request against you.'

"CHP IS İMAMOĞLU HOLDING, ITS CEO IS ÖZGÜR ÖZEL"

Mr. Özgür Özel is acting as a carrier pigeon. This place is now a holding company. İmamoğlu Holding. Its CEO is Özgür Özel. The carrier pigeon flies to Silivri every Wednesday. He enters Silivri, and comes back to implement what Ekrem Bey dictates. Ekrem Bey is the one who determines things.

"THEY HAVE CORRUPTED THE DNA OF THE CHP"

The party is under the blockade of İhsan Azizler, Ertan Yıldızlar, and Murat Gül İbrahimoğulları. They have corrupted the DNA of this party. Such relationships did not exist in the Republican People's Party. I served as the Istanbul Provincial Chairman, and I did not have a single zoning amendment made. And they bring all these crimes, and just as they try to pin them on me, they pin them on Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu. What are they saying about Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu? "The prosecutor called Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu and said, 'Come and give a statement, and say that you didn't see or do anything, and we will cancel this case.'" The journalist who wrote this does not know the law either. Because there are 46 testimonies and 96 suspects regarding this suspicious convention. The prosecutor has taken the statements and conducted the investigation; Kemal Bey is not going to come and say something like that. Then, regarding Kemal Bey, Ekrem Bey, Özgür Bey, and whoever else you name who is in this party today, they all owe their political careers to Kemal Bey.

"MERAL HANIM AND İMAMOĞLU CAUSED KEMAL BEY TO LOSE"

You did hundreds of hours of programming for the Presidency. Kemal Bey did not lose the Presidency. They made him lose. Meral Hanım and İmamoğlu caused him to lose. It is not important that İmamoğlu went to the rallies. I would have gone too. He is doing politics to build a base for himself.