CHP Chair Özel compares election results to a 'letter written to politicians'

Özel met with young people at an event organized by the Bilkent University Social Democracy Community at the university's concert hall.

Stating that the CHP became Turkey's leading party in the March 31 local elections for the first time in 47 years, Özel expressed that meeting with young people in his first program after the election was very meaningful for him.

Noting that every election result is a letter written to politicians, Özel said that those who read this letter correctly move toward the better in politics, while those who cannot read it move toward the worse. "If you receive the voter's message, you do the right thing; if you don't, the process of your decline begins," he said.

Referring to the congress process in which he was elected CHP chair, Özel stated that they set out with a young team that believed in change, and that the demand for change at the party's grassroots influenced the delegates over time.

Stating that the average age of CHP Party Assembly members is 43 and the average age of Central Executive Board members is 46, Özel said they trust the youth to whom Mustafa Kemal Atatürk entrusted the republic, as well as Turkish women who gained the right to vote and be elected years before many European countries, and that this is how the door to political success opened for them.

Explaining that the other key to success was science and reason, and that the founders of the republic also embraced these values, Özel stated that one of the reasons for the success in the election was the scientific methods they used.

"THE YOUTH WON THIS ELECTION, THEY MADE IT HAPPEN"

Özgür Özel used the expression, "This election was won by those who were ignored, forgotten, and marginalized. It was won and made possible by retirees and laborers, tradespeople and farmers, but most of all by the youth, whom I addressed the most and whom I saw were listening to me after a certain point."

Stating that they will act in the same way in the next election, Özel said, "Just as we invested in, took steps toward, and trusted the youth, women, and merit with a brave and determined step today, and achieved results, let no one doubt that we will achieve the same result."

Stating that the country's well-trained, well-educated youth are making plans to go to other countries and that this is the biggest issue of national survival, Özel continued his words as follows:

"They talk about a national survival issue. The survival issue of this country is that 3 out of every 4 young people have their suitcases packed in their minds. In more than 5 polls, with the lowest being 62 percent and the highest being 78 percent, young people say, 'If I have the opportunity, I want to go abroad, settle there, and live there.'

The bright youth of this country, who are well-trained, well-educated, or who could not benefit from that equality of opportunity despite deserving it, are unfortunately going to other countries in the world. A national survival issue is not about other countries in the world making calculations, plans, or dreaming about Turkey. We have known how to push back those dreams, and we still do. A country's real problem is when its youth dream of living in other countries."

"WE BROUGHT DIFFERENT SEGMENTS TOGETHER WITH THE TURKEY ALLIANCE"

Stating that they brought citizens from different segments of society together with the Turkey Alliance, Özgür Özel said the following:

"We did not just invite social democrats. We invited conservative democrats who are tired of lies and illicit gains, nationalist democrats who care about the future, unity, and integrity of this country, Kurdish democrats who respect the territorial integrity of this country, and everyone in this country who can dream of a common future to the Turkey Alliance. In this country, we cared about those who value commonalities rather than divisions and differences, and those who see differences not as a risk, threat, or 'the other,' but as a strength, coming together."