Breaking News: CHP leader Özgür Özel announces his promises

The Republican People's Party (CHP) held a meeting at its Headquarters titled “Together with the Nation, at the Service of the Nation.” CHP Chairman Özgür Özel also attended the gathering.

Within the scope of the program, the CHP's concrete promises for the upcoming period were shared with the public.

 

We are holding our ‘Together with the Nation, at the Service of the Nation’ meeting at our Headquarters. https://t.co/BxGlMxxGm8

— CHP ???? (@herkesicinCHP) March 2, 2026

TEZCAN: “NO ONE IS GREATER THAN THE NATION”

The opening speech of the meeting was made by Presidential Candidate Office (CAO) General Coordinator Bülent Tezcan. Tezcan used the following expressions in his speech:

"The nation's agenda is livelihood, jobs, and justice. And this is our concern as well. We are setting out with those who share this concern. We are setting out with those whose concern is the nation's concern, and let no one forget that no one is greater than the nation. May our path be clear."

BÖKE: A LONG-TERM POLITICAL STRUGGLE BEGINS

Following Bülent Tezcan, CHP Secretary General Selin Sayek Böke took the podium. Emphasizing the link between the party program and the goal of coming to power, Böke said:

"The ruling cadres in this hall are creating a government program together with the nation that responds to our citizens' search for a dignified life and carries Turkey to a secure future. Just like our 'Strong Citizen, Secure Future, Winning Turkey' party program, our government program is being prepared right in the heart of life, inclusive, participatory, and at the center of a common struggle."

Stating that the CHP is preparing for a comprehensive and organized election process, Böke said, “The CHP is organizing the longest campaign in political history,” and expressed that the party is working with all its structures.

EMPHASIS ON “DEMOCRACY, JUSTICE, AND A DIGNIFIED LIFE”

Continuing her speech, Böke listed the CHP's goals with these words:

"As we outlined in our party program, we are coming to establish a true democracy based on active citizenship. We are coming to provide justice for everyone, everywhere, in every field. We are coming to develop Turkey. We are coming to catch up with the era by transforming production and the economy. We are coming to build a social state that guarantees a dignified life for everyone and leaves no one behind. We are coming to ensure our country's security in a world and region where threats, uncertainties, and wars are rampant. We are coming to prosper together with a foreign policy that creates wealth."

POLICY BOARDS INTRODUCED

Following Selin Sayek Böke's speech, the chairs and members of the Presidential Candidate Office's Policy Boards were introduced to the public.

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL ON THE PODIUM

In the later part of the program, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel took the podium to make statements.

Özel's statements are as follows:

"Our region has turned into a ring of fire. We reject our region being subjected to interventions by the US and Israel that disregard international law and do not hesitate to target innocent civilians. We oppose the attack on our neighbor Iran. We advocate for a return to the diplomatic table as soon as possible and a resolution based on consensus for the current crisis.

The peace and security of the region are of critical importance for our country. We must determine that the AKP government has failed to establish regional peace by leading the countries in our region. We never accept the AKP government standing on Trump's side under all circumstances as if it has tied its entire existence to him, and showing a shy and timid attitude towards the attacks of the US and Israel. We will change the AKP's black order. We will build a Turkey full of justice, prosperity, and peace for everyone."

“IT WILL NOT BE A PARTY STATE, BUT THE NATION'S STATE”

No one will ever again be equipped with the powers of today's President. The President will be impartial and inclusive. Everyone, including the President, will be audited. The separation of powers will be truly established. The Parliament will regain the power it deserves. The transition to a Democratic Parliamentary System will be made as soon as possible. Fundamental rights and freedoms will be inviolable. Obstacles to freedom of thought, expression, and the press will be removed. It will not be a party state, but the nation's state.

“EVERYONE IS EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW”

We will save the judiciary from being the backyard of politics. We will provide judges and prosecutors with security of tenure and position. Everyone will receive equal treatment before the judiciary. The ordeals of trials that last for years will end. Full compliance with the decisions of the Constitutional Court (AYM) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will be ensured. The way will be paved for the retrial of cases that have created social trauma. The grievances of those against whom there are no judicial decisions or who have been tried and acquitted will be remedied.

“WE WILL END WASTE IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR”

We will introduce a comprehensive Tax Reform for tax justice. We will reduce the share of indirect taxes to the level of OECD countries. We will establish a fair tax system where those who earn more pay more and those who earn less pay less. Basic consumer products will be exempt from tax. The heavy income tax burden on employees will be reduced. Income tax brackets will be updated again with the poverty line calculation. Effective combat against the informal economy will be carried out, and tax revenues will be increased. We will raise the lowest pension to the minimum wage. We will give pensioners 1 minimum wage bonus during holidays. We will eliminate income inequality among pensioners with a real adjustment method. We will end waste in the public sector. We will give the budget to the unemployed, the worker, and the pensioner."

“TURKEY'S POSITION WILL NOT CHANGE ACCORDING TO AMERICA”

We will transform foreign policy into a development tool that attracts investment and creates jobs. Turkey, with its developing democracy and economy, will also lead the Middle East in peace, brotherhood, and prosperity. Turkey's position will not change according to America. Our citizens everywhere in the world will feel the state by their side. Our passport will gain respect. We will take fast and effective steps for full membership in the European Union. We will reach a Turkey without bans and a Europe without visas."

“THESE BILLS WILL BE ENACTED IMMEDIATELY”

Under our government, our state will be strong, and our country will be safe. Our defense industry, which is the common work of all Republican governments and our nation, will be further strengthened with effective, fair, and auditable project management, and personnel management far from favoritism. All necessary measures will be taken to reach the goal of a Turkish Armed Forces that effectively fulfills the duties entrusted to it, deters in peace, and wins in war. The military health system will be re-established so that the Turkish Armed Forces, which operates in a geography surrounded by crises, can successfully carry out its activities.

The injustices in the personal and social rights of Turkish Armed Forces personnel will be remedied, and necessary improvements will be made. Senior majors and non-commissioned officers will be given official and duty compensations in a way that covers their retirement rights. Housing capacities will be increased, and rental assistance will definitely be provided. We had prepared 18 bills for the solution of the fundamental problems of martyrs' families and veterans and sent them to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Despite all our initiatives, it was not possible for these to be implemented. Under our government, these bills will be enacted immediately with common sense.

“THE CRIME ECONOMY WILL BE DRIED UP AT ITS SOURCE”

Again, all necessary measures will be taken for effective combat against drugs and organized crime groups, which are among the most important security problems. Their financial networks will be dismantled, and the crime economy will be dried up at its source. Education, rehabilitation, and community-based programs will be expanded. Law enforcement, social services, and local governments will work in coordination.

Permanent prosperity in the economy cannot be achieved with daily rules, but with rational planning, institutional capacity, and production power. Therefore, we will start a new development move in trade and industry with a planned, transparent, and strategic understanding, without bringing production together with high value-added, increasing qualified employment, and achieving technological transformation. We will establish the Turkey Planning Organization to ensure that the country's resources are planned in a predictable, accountable, and efficient manner in line with needs and priorities.

“WE WILL UPDATE ALL AGREEMENTS”

We will be a country that actively sets rules in global trade. We will protect exporters in the most effective way. Our main goal is full membership in the European Union in the first term of our government. However, until this is achieved, we will update all international agreements, especially the Customs Union. We will include agriculture, services, and digital trade in the Customs Union. We will strengthen university-industry cooperation with the national technology strategy.

We will launch a mobilization of 1 million production experts. Organized Industrial Zones will be integrated with Technoparks and educational institutions. We aim to reverse the brain drain with the vision of a Turkey that produces and exports knowledge.

“WE WILL DEFINITELY FIX THIS”

An agricultural policy that meets our country's need for healthy and cheap food is both about the struggle for livelihood and a national survival issue. If a country loses its land and its farmer, it loses its future. However, today our farmers are producing in uncertainty. The farmer does not know the price at planting time, and cannot even cover their costs at harvest time. We will definitely fix this understanding.

We will implement the purchase-guaranteed production model. The farmer will know the price at which they will sell their product before planting, will make their plan, and will plant accordingly. The buyer will know what they will buy, and the producer will know what they should produce. The supply-demand balance will be established in a planned manner. With this system, both price stability will be ensured and the farmer will be protected.

While the Agriculture Law stipulates that 1 percent of the national income should be paid to the farmer as support, the Justice and Development Party government gives only one-fifth of this. It already puts only one-fifth into the budget anyway. We will comply with the law, we will give the support in full. We will erase the interest on farmer debts, and we will create the opportunity for our farmers to start over once again by dividing the principal into 5 years.

“WE WILL INCREASE MEAT PRODUCTION”

We will collect electricity debts not every month, but from harvest to harvest. We will completely remove the tax on the diesel used by the farmer. We will guarantee milk production with the correct milk-feed parity. We will determine and implement a fair price where 1 kilogram of milk can buy at least 1.6 kilograms of feed. We will end meat imports from abroad with livestock supports. We will increase meat production, we will be an exporter, not an importer, in meat.

Wrong policies have caused great damage to our fishing. We aim for sustainable fishing by following fish stocks with scientific methods and studies. We will tighten inspections against exorbitant increases in food prices. We will ensure that intermediaries between chain markets and local producers are reduced or completely removed.

“WE WILL START THE CITIZENSHIP INCOME APPLICATION”

Dear friends, just as the black propaganda that the Republican People's Party would cut social benefits if it came to power collapsed with the Republican People's Party municipalities increasing social benefits 4-5 times, a real social state will also be established under our party's government. In the first 100 days, we will start the Basic Citizenship Income application. Being a citizen of this country will be enough for a dignified life. We will definitely establish a social state that provides a certain income support to everyone. Benefits will be made permanent, but the goal will be a complete exit from poverty.

We see housing as a fundamental human right. We will start a real social state mobilization. TOKİ's annual housing production will be increased from 45 thousand to 120 thousand. At least 25 percent of the produced houses will be social housing for rent. The social housing rent will not exceed 25 percent of the household income.

“WE WILL END PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME”

People in our country are now afraid to turn on the combi boiler. They also think twice when turning on the light. Mr. Erdoğan, on the other hand, does not hesitate to sit by the stove in a house in a neighborhood with natural gas where he went for iftar. We are establishing the Social Energy Support Fund. We will provide up to 300 kW/h of electricity per month to those in need, and free natural gas up to 80 m³ in winter and 30 m³ in summer. We will end the permanent daylight saving time application at the first opportunity.

Equal, free, and quality education is the duty of the state. Under our government, every young person who graduates from high school by studying in state schools will speak at least one foreign language at a good level and will have technological skills enough to compete with the world. Quality education will cease to be an opportunity only accessible to the rich. Our schools will be clean and safe. We will provide students with one free school meal and drinking water.

“WE WILL REMOVE INTERVIEWS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR”

We will remove interviews in the public sector, we will bring merit. We will appoint 100 thousand teachers, 100 thousand cleaning staff, and 65 thousand security guards and 75 thousand school health nurses from among the unappointed specialist sergeants in the first year. We will allocate a basic needs budget to every school. We will take decisive and effective measures against drugs, crime gangs, and peer bullying in schools."

“THE ERA OF HEALTH AS MUCH AS YOU CAN PAY WILL END”

Health is a vital budget item that should not be left to the mercy of the market, and it is too valuable to be seen as just a budget item. If our citizens are thinking about their pockets while going to the hospital, there is a lack of social justice there. Quality health service is the most fundamental responsibility of a strong state. We aim to build a health system that inspires confidence for everyone.

Instead of this system that closes hospitals in the city center to build the biggest one and forces everyone to distant city hospitals, we will of course build new ones in the closest, most suitable place to the city and in the size and accessibility needed, while protecting existing hospitals. We will reopen closed state hospitals according to need. We will employ 200 thousand health workers in 5 years. We will remove the performance system and bring a basic salary that reflects on retirement, and a merit-based appointment and promotion system. We will make regulations that will provide real deterrence against violence against health workers without wasting time.

We will remove contribution shares, additional fees, and difference fees in treatment and medicine. We will abandon this heartless practice where the cheapest is paid for orthotics, prosthetics, and medical devices, and the patient covers the difference if a better one is requested. Free oral and dental health services will be offered in family medicine. Together with the Dentists Association and the Dentists Chamber, we will offer free oral and dental health services as a service accessible to everyone. The era of health as much as you can pay will end. An equal, free, and accessible health system will be established for everyone.

“WE WILL SUPPORT LOCAL DEVELOPMENT IN TOURISM”

Dear friends, tourism is not just income. Tourism is culture, employment, local development, and a connection to the world. We position tourism not as a smokeless industry, but as a strategic export area. We will grant tourism exporter status. We will provide appropriate financial support and VAT exemption for safe tourism investments. We will transfer accommodation tax revenues to local governments and tourism infrastructure. We will make at least one product from every region a world brand. We will support local development in tourism. We will see culture as a common value of society, not of rent. We will create a cultural climate where art is practiced freely. We will develop tourism not only on the coasts but in the whole country. We will include Anatolia in this tourism understanding; we will re-strengthen and develop Anatolia, Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, with their high tourism potential.

“CHEAP AND FAST INTERNET”

We will take new and strong steps in transportation and infrastructure. We will connect organized industrial zones and logistics centers directly to the railway network. We will reach 40 thousand kilometers of divided roads in the first 5 years. We will increase our electric and conventional main line railway network, which is 9 thousand kilometers, to a total of 14 thousand kilometers in the first 5 years. We will strengthen alternative transportation systems. We will increase the share of railways in all transportation from 3.5% to 6% in the first 5 years, and to 17% in the second 5 years. At the end of the first 5 years, we will complete the transition from 5G to 6G across the country. We will offer the right to access cheap and fast internet to the service of our people, especially our youth.

“WE WILL BECOME A PARTY TO THE ISTANBUL CONVENTION AGAIN”

If you want to see the tomorrow of a country, it is enough to look at the lives of women and the future hopes of young people. We will build a Turkey where women live fearlessly and young people look to tomorrow with hope. We will prevent violence against women from going unpunished. We will implement new and effective regulations and apply them completely. We will empower women in political, social, and economic life. We will become a party to the Istanbul Convention again.

We will open state nurseries in every neighborhood. We will cover nursery expenses exceeding 6% of family income as the state. We will implement the equal pay for equal work application. We will use public procurement to support women entrepreneurs. A fair scholarship and loan system will come, there will be no young person without housing. In one year, we will bring education scholarships to the level of one and a half quarter gold coins. We will solve the housing problem from the root with Republic Dormitories. We will primarily offer the social housing for rent application to the use of young people. We will implement the Youth Employment Guarantee program, which guarantees that every young person under 25 will be offered a job, internship, or education within 4 months after completing their education. We will remove all taxes on the first computer and first mobile phone that young people buy, regardless of brand and model.

“WE WILL INSTITUTIONALIZE THE STATE”

My precious fellow travelers, these are not just a list of promises; they are the first and most important prescription of the will to eliminate the destruction created by the government and the gap it has created between social segments. We are not announcing a list of promises. We are putting forward a system change and a major program. This is a reconstruction process. We will institutionalize the state, plan the economy, and establish justice in every field. We will produce and distribute prosperity fairly to everyone.

I would like to sincerely express here that the goal of our government is not to seize the judiciary, which politics has instrumentalized today, when we come to power, but to establish a judicial order that no one can ever seize again. Our goal is not to seize the media that the government holds in its hands today, but to build a media order and freedom of the press that no one can ever seize again. We are coming not to seize the state's institutions, but to create strong, independent, and impartial institutions.

“LET NO ONE BE ABLE TO TAKE THAT STICK IN THEIR HAND”

We are fighting for our future. My dear fellow travelers, the Republican People's Party is ready for power with its qualified cadres and its strong structure that brings together all the democrats of society. Let everyone be sure that the ballot box will be put in front of the nation and that election will be won not by autocrats, but by democrats.

Our government will be the guarantor of all identities, beliefs, acquired rights, and freedoms. In our government, we will not resemble those who are hostile to us. We do not see the change of government as a process where rivals will be beaten and revenge will be taken on rivals. Instead of taking a stick in our hand and beating our rivals when the government changes, we will break that stick into 40 pieces so that no one can ever take that stick in their hand again.

“İMAMOĞLU WILL ENTER THE ELECTION”

No matter what they do, no matter what conspiracy they set up, our Presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu will enter the elections and will become President if our nation deems it appropriate. Our Republic will be crowned with pluralistic democracy. This country will no longer be a country where hopeless young people dream of going abroad and wander around aimlessly in its streets.

Our President Ekrem is in Silivri today. While addressing this hall today, he prepared his notes in Silivri with a pencil and a few pages of A4 paper given to him. But his or our strong cadres, our fellow travelers being in Silivri does not mean that we are also restricted, that we will not move, and that we will wait for their path, and that we will only start walking then. Each of us is a Presidential candidate. Each of us is the cadres of this party walking to power. President Ekrem's hope is here, but the hope of every citizen who thinks that their problems can be solved with President Ekrem coming to power, and that their problems can be solved with him becoming President, is also in this hall."

MESSAGE FROM İMAMOĞLU: 'WE NEED TO CHANGE THE GOVERNMENT'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor and presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu also participated in the meeting held at the CHP Headquarters with his artificial intelligence-supported presentation.

İmamoğlu said the following in his presentation:

“My precious Chairman, my dear fellow travelers, dear Republican People's Party members, I greet our party's ‘Together with the Nation, at the Service of the Nation’ launch from the Silivri dungeon with respect and love. My precious fellow travelers; we are in the most difficult days of the country's history, in the most suffocating times of our recent history. Our democracy, our economy, our bureaucracy, our justice, and our education system have collapsed. The country's most valuable institutions, the most important offices, have been handed over to a handful of incompetent people who have no other feature than loyalty. Prisons are full of politicians, mayors, journalists, intellectuals, and students. It is desired that no one opens their mouth. Workers are condemned to poverty, pensioners to hunger. While a small minority adds wealth to their wealth; our youth are unemployed, our children are hopeless. No one can say that tomorrow will be better than today. Our cities, our neighborhoods have been handed over to gangs, drug traffickers, and women and children are killed in our streets every day.”

“My dear brothers and sisters; our country is at a real crossroads. As it has been many times before… At the beginning of the 19th century, when it became clear that the Ottoman Empire could not continue in its old state, we had come to a crossroads, and when we came out of the First World War defeated. At both crossroads, we had made great moves and protected our country from greater disasters. When it became clear that the Ottoman Empire could not continue in its old state, we had declared the Tanzimat Edict, and when we came out of the First World War defeated, we had fought our War of Independence under the leadership of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and established the Republic. We passed through both thresholds by making great reforms. Our country is again at a great crossroads today. We again need a great reform move. For the survival of our Republic and our democracy, and to find a place worthy of our country in the changing international order, we need to make a great reform move. And to be able to make this great reform move, we need to change this government.”

“ONLY THE CHP CAN CHANGE THE ILL FATE”

“My precious brothers and sisters; only we can make the reform move that our country strongly needs. Only the CHP can change the ill fate of the country, as it did a century ago. As long as we do not deviate from our path. As long as we do not deviate from the path of change we started in 2023, and continue and develop the change process. We saw in 2024 that change brings success. We succeeded in 2024; because we made the CHP everyone's party. We succeeded in 2024; because we showed that the CHP could manage Turkey better. We succeeded in 2024; because we made the CHP the address of our country's democratic, inclusive, executive, and merit-based cadres. We succeeded in 2024; because we made the CHP the guarantor of everyone's belief, language, clothing, and lifestyle.”

“NOW IS THE TIME TO DESERVE THIS TRUST”

“My dear fellow travelers; the CHP is Turkey's first party today. We are the first party because our nation trusts us. They trust us because we stood tall with our Chairman and our organization against the siege attempt started on March 19, and did not surrender to the siege. They trust us because we did not let our cities be looted and we managed the municipalities better. They trust us because our municipalities protect the low-income, the poor, women, children, and the youth, and because we leave no one behind. They trust us because they believe that we can manage our country better, just like our cities. They trust us because we have the desire, the energy, the idea, and the cadre for this.

Now, as the CHP Presidential Candidate Office, with the leadership of our Chairman, with all our cadres, our energy, and our vision, it is time to deserve this trust… It is time to show that the CHP will not surrender, that the CHP cannot be taken over. It is time to show that the CHP is ready to manage Turkey with reason, science, consultation, expertise, and merit. It is time to show that the CHP is ready to make the great reform move.”

“LET US APPEAR WITH SUCH A PROGRAM AND CADRE THAT…”

“My dear fellow travelers; let us appear before our citizens with such an action program and cadre that we show that the state will be managed with justice and merit under the CHP government, that society will not be polarized but embraced, that everyone will be acceptable, that the nation will be peaceful and prosperous, that citizens will be equal and free, that we will distribute prosperity fairly, that we will be equal in opportunities and leave no one behind, that our streets will be safe, and that women and children will be in safety.

Let us appear with such proposals and projects that we show that we will return to a production economy, that we will realize our economic growth not with foreign debt, but by increasing productivity and expanding supply. Let us appear with such a program and cadre that we show that we will build the ‘Anatolia Development Road’, make our country a transit point for international trade, lower food prices, cheer up our villages, eliminate the development gap between our regions, and spread national prosperity to all four corners of the country.”

“LET THEM BELIEVE THAT OUR COUNTRY WILL BE SAFE”

“Let us appear with such an action program that we show that we will make free education qualified and qualified education free, that we will make state schools the best schools in the country, that we will create an income guarantee with which every citizen can live a dignified and human life with ‘Basic Citizenship Income’, that we will make the right to housing accessible for everyone, and that we will provide employment and qualified education to young people. Let us appear with such a program and cadre that we show that we will manage the country from the ground up, that we will make our cities durable, and life in our cities safe, spacious, and cheap. Let us appear with such a program and cadre that we show that our country is not condemned to these unjust, tyrannical, arrogant administrators, to this poverty and misery, to this incompetence, to this ineptitude, to this waste and vulgarity.

Let us appear with such a program that our citizens believe and trust that our country will be safe under our government. Let them believe and trust that we will have a strong state against threats, and that the state will protect its citizens from disasters and crises. Let them believe and trust that they will get a fair share of our country's wealth and that the struggle for livelihood will end. Let them believe and trust that they will live peacefully and freely in a just country. Let them believe and trust that they will freely reflect their will to the ballot box in a fair and democratic political competition environment. Let them believe and trust that their life will be better, happier, and more hopeful.”

“THE CHP IS THE PARTY OF DIFFICULT TIMES”

“My dear comrades, my fellow travelers; our responsibility is great, our burden is heavy. But we are the CHP. We are the party of difficult days, of difficult times. Just as we raised this country from the ruins of the First World War and established the Republic; just as we achieved a lot of work in a short time and gained a respectable place in the world for the young Republic of Turkey; just as we transitioned the country to a multi-party system after the Second World War; today, we can make the great reforms needed to make our country stronger, more peaceful, and happier. My dear fellow travelers; I greet our ‘Together with the Nation, at the Service of the Nation Meeting’ with these feelings, with this strong belief, and I wish you all great success. I greet you all with these feelings, with this strong belief. May God be our helper. Ekrem İmamoğlu. Silivri Dungeon.”