CHP Chairman Özgür Özel makes important statements from Bursa

Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mustafa Bozbey was detained on March 31 along with 57 other people, including his wife, daughter, and siblings, due to allegations regarding his tenure as Nilüfer Mayor 7 years ago. Three days after his detention, Mustafa Bozbey underwent health checks and was referred to the courthouse.

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel met with thousands of citizens at the rally held in front of the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Main Service Building under the slogan "Bursa Stands Up for Its Will" following the detention decision against Mustafa Bozbey.

Before Özgür Özel took the stage, a letter from Bozbey was read.

BURSA STANDS UP FOR BOZBEY: ÖZGÜR ÖZEL AT THE PODIUM

Highlights from Özgür Özel's speech are as follows:

Today, our Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mustafa Bozbey is in detention. Tomorrow morning, the fourth day will be completed. This is not about his current term in the metropolitan municipality; they are digging up a slander, a setup from 7 years ago, even though there was a five-year period in between where he worked and struggled as a candidate... Those who reach out to Bursa's will have been holding Mustafa Bozbey in police custody for the fourth day today. They are trying to tire him out, to make him surrender with a ruthless, torture-like interrogation lasting twenty hours, trying to make him commit contradictions and mistakes by taking his statement for twenty hours, essentially trying to set him up by taking advantage of his fatigue. After this, there will be the prosecutor's stage and then, we hope it won't happen, but the court stage.

It is very clear that those who keep him sleepless for days, disturb him, and try to make him make mistakes during his statement with torture do not trust the information or the tip-off they have; they know what that slander is and who the slanderers are. So why are they doing this? During his two-year metropolitan term, they constantly spread rumors that 'Mustafa Bozbey will switch to the AK Party.' He denied it every time. They constantly sent him information that an operation would be carried out against him, disturbing his peace. Then they came around and said, 'Either you join the AK Party or you will be thrown in jail.'

If Mustafa Bozbey is in detention today, the reason is that he did not bow to the threats coming from the AK Party, did not surrender to blackmail, and did not go and take refuge in the AK Party like the so-called 'heeled' defector in Aydın. I ask all Bursans with a conscience here: If Mustafa Bozbey had gone to the AK Party when they called, if he had been afraid when threatened, if he had cowered and not trusted himself, would he be in this state today?

I claim that if Mustafa Bozbey agreed to join the AK Party this evening, the whole process would change instantly, the prosecutor's attitude would change, the decisions would change. And suddenly, it would be accepted that Mustafa Bozbey is innocent, that the slanderers are lying, and Mustafa Bozbey would regain his freedom instantly.

Now, we are behind Mustafa Bozbey, who did not surrender to this lie, did not surrender to this pressure, did not fall for the games of these coup plotters, and did not bow his neck to them, to the very end, we are behind him to the very end!

This is Bursa. Mustafa Bozbey received 47% of the vote here in the last elections. I ask those who came to power with 30% of the votes when all parties remained below the threshold and have been in power since that day: You came with the vote of one in three people and have been in power in the country for years. I ask about someone who received the vote of one in two people, climbed up to 65% in satisfaction surveys, entered the hearts of Bursa with the services he provided, did not make those who voted for him regret it, and made those who did not regret it; instead of looking at this period, to throw him in jail, to imprison him with a slanderer from 7 years ago, and then to take the municipality you could not take on March 31, 2024, with the parliamentary majority, that is, to take the municipality you could not take at the ballot box with a prosecutor, with a judge. Shame on your understanding of democracy!

Does Bursa see this setup? Do you see what is being done? Here is the person before you, who used that victimization to the fullest when he went to jail in the past; in fact, someone who was not even detained, held in a holding cell, or tried while under arrest for a single day in the past, and who was kept in his post even when his sentence was seen at the first level and was invited to prison by phone when it was finalized at the Court of Cassation, is today trying to have him arrested with the claim of a slanderer from 7 years ago and seize the mayoralty with his majority in parliament, trying to take the authority that the people of Bursa did not give by force. This is the photograph of the disgrace.

Look, who am I talking about, what am I talking about? When this municipality was taken from the AK Party, it was taken with a 400 million dollar debt. 400 million dollars. Let everyone hear this. With today's money, 17.5 billion lira in debt. Two years have passed, half of this debt is gone. On one side is the AKP that left 17.5 billion in debt; and despite the instruction to 'shake them down, cut their money, ruin them, make them unable to serve, unable to pay salaries, unable to collect trash,' we have practiced a municipalism that paid off half of the 17.5 billion debt.

We paid the interest and the principal of the SGK debts and tax debts left by the AK Party - look, they created the debt. It is all finished, all finished. In two years, in two years, transportation investments exceeding 4 billion lira were made, right before your eyes. 330 thousand tons of asphalt were laid, right before your eyes. 600 kilometers of road were paved, right before your eyes. Night services in transportation started, because you asked for it. With an investment of 7 billion lira, 820 kilometers of drinking water lines were laid, right in front of your house. 37 water tanks, 5 ponds, 8 irrigation facilities, 3 wastewater treatment plants were built, right before your eyes.

By gaining 250 thousand square meters of green space, the amount of green space per capita in Bursa rose to 12.3 square meters. I say this for comparison: They took Esenyurt. They managed it for 25-30 years. But we took it, now they took it back with a trustee. The green space per capita in Esenyurt is half a square meter. In Beylikdüzü, next door, of Mayor Ekrem and Mayor Murat Çalık, it is 10 square meters. In Bursa, with the efforts of Mustafa Bozbey, it is 12.3 square meters.

I ask the people of Bursa, Bursa is not enough. I ask my hometown Manisa, I ask Trabzon, the hometown of Mayor Ekrem. I ask Erdoğan's Rize, Bahçeli's Osmaniye. I ask Mr. Davutoğlu's Konya. I ask Meral Akşener's Kocaeli. And I ask our mayor, the hometowns of all our mayors, one by one. One by one. Was there corruption while paying off so much debt and providing so much service? Or was there corruption while leaving 400 million dollars in debt and not paying insurance, not paying taxes, and creating 17.5 billion in debt? On one side are those who bankrupted the municipality, on the other are those who paid off the debt and stood Bursa back up.

"Therefore, therefore, I am addressing everyone in Bursa who voted for the AK Party, who voted for the MHP, but who sees these services: City restaurants, educational support for more than 10 thousand students, 9 new B cafes, production of drip irrigation pipes with recycled materials, distribution of 15 million meters of drip irrigation pipes to farmers, purchasing and evaluating all products left in the hands of local producers from milk to olives, disaster coordination centers, establishment of disaster stations in 42 neighborhoods, urban transformation projects, and the employment of 62 individuals with special needs... These are all works that AK Party and MHP citizens also see, that our municipality is working like clockwork, paying off debt, laying asphalt, producing service, and that all of Bursa sees.

Now let's stop these, let's bring back those you didn't choose, let them create debt again, let them waste again. Let them do the things Bursa is tired of over and over again, and let Mustafa Bozbey lie in jail unjustly... MHP and AK Party Bursans, I am also a child of Bursa, I am a son-in-law of Bursa. I know the people of Bursa. No conscience in Bursa will remain silent in the face of this baseness, no conscience!

Now Mustafa Bozbey had a request from me. He was saying, "Come one day in April, Mr. Chairman, because I have many openings accumulated. Let's do these openings together." He sent word with his lawyers the other day. He said: "The Chairman was going to come in mid-April, we were going to have openings. But they took me and put me inside. You never know, I have no crime, but they will come and arrest me just to collapse on the municipality. Then they will make me lie for three or five months, then they will come out and tell the work I did as if they did it themselves, they will have openings. Let my Chairman come, I am here, he is there, let him do the opening. Let the Bursan see who is providing the service, let them not surrender to the setup."

Today, we will perform the opening of 29 services that Mustafa Bozbey was waiting for, waiting for me for the opening. For the 103rd time on this bus, we are standing up for the will. We read poems, we sang songs, there were days we cried, there were days we smiled, but this was also destined: For the first time in world political history: While the one who performs the services is being interrogated by the police, while waiting for the prosecutor's interrogation; in the middle of the night, but together with those who receive the service, we are holding a mass opening ceremony. Let this go down in history like this. May those who make us do this be ashamed of what they have done, and may Bursa be proud of these services!"

BOZBEY: I AM PROUD TO WALK ON THE SAME PATH AS YOU

Mustafa Bozbey, in his letter voiced by artificial intelligence, thanked the Bursans who supported him and said, "Our heads are held high, our conscience is clear. Whatever we did, we did for the future of this beautiful city. No matter how much those who no longer have a place in the hearts of our nation target us, the truth and our people are with us. Justice will find its place sooner or later. We have no account that cannot be given, we have no fear. We have no work left in the dark. No one can eliminate our service for Bursa or the effort we put in together."

The full text of Bozbey's letter is as follows:

"You set out with hope and persistence, you came to this square regardless of rain or mud. With the same determination, with the same persistence, and with my belief that these dark clouds hovering over our country and our city will soon disperse, I greet you. Dear fellow citizens, Mr. Chairman, valuable representatives serving at every level of our party, precious fellow travelers, welcome all. Even if I cannot be side by side with you today, my conscience and my mind are with you. Even if I cannot see you, I know, and believe me, I will never forget this. Thank you all very much. I am proud to walk on the same path as you.

Because I know, even if we come to this square from İnegöl, what we want is justice, prosperity, and peace. Even if we come from İznik, even if we come from Yıldırım, even if we come from Kestel... We are the voice of free-flowing streams, singing youth, women wanting change, workers wanting security, tradesmen wanting prosperity, new graduates wanting opportunities, farmers wanting peace, children wanting a future.

Exactly 2 years ago, we filled the squares again. On March 31, the will of Bursa gave us a task. The task of returning Bursa to its owners, that is, to you. The task of managing Bursa with participation. The task of growing the hopes of Bursa's children. Now, 2 years later, they are trying to steal your will, to uproot the saplings of hope we have sprouted. I want everyone to know this: The target here is not one person. The target here is your will, your vote. What is done today is an intervention in your choice. And the people of Bursa, my beautiful fellow citizens, you are showing all of Turkey here today that democracy will be kept alive not only at the ballot box but in the square.

Our heads are held high, our conscience is clear. Whatever we did, we did for the future of this beautiful city. No matter how much those who no longer have a place in the hearts of our nation target us, the truth and our people are with us. Justice will find its place sooner or later. We have no account that cannot be given, we have no fear. We have no work left in the dark. No one can eliminate our service for Bursa or the effort we put in together.

We had a promise when we set out on this path: To put people at the center, to carry this ancient city to the future it deserves. We kept our promise. Look closely at every facility we are opening today. These are not just buildings, these are the response to the trust the Bursan has shown us. We opened our B cafes, we created spaces where our citizens can come together without thinking about their pockets. BESAŞ continues to grow, we are opening new stores, we are offering bread to our people at an affordable price. Gemlik Thermal Facility is now in service. A women's solidarity center is opening in Kestel. We are with our youth with youth centers and sports fields. We say 'Green Bursa Again', we are greening our Bursa with plane trees. We are becoming a breath for the future with our nurseries. We have taken important steps in infrastructure, we have completed water investments, our Çınarcık Drinking Water Treatment Plant is flowing vigorously like our Love for Bursa. We solved problems that could not be solved for years in a short time. We protected our nature, our water, our soil. We made our Bursa more resilient. Think about it, even the treatment plant of my village Özlüce had not been built, Hamitler's garbage leaks were left to the Nilüfer Stream. We were the ones who changed this picture. We were the ones who removed this shame. We opened new areas in art, culture, and social life. We did not separate any of our 17 districts. Because Bursa is a whole.

While managing the debt burden we inherited when we took office with planned financial discipline, we simultaneously invested in every corner of our Bursa. We used resources correctly. We did not waste. We zeroed out the SGK and tax debts that the management before us had not paid for 20 years. We worked in a planned and disciplined manner. We planned the future of Bursa not alone, but with a common mind. I especially want to state that we are always with our Bursaspor, we will continue to be with them under any circumstances. Let our fans own this great value of ours, let them always be with our team. We will win again in tomorrow's match. Our faith is full, the championship will come to this city again.

Dear Bursans, Mr. Chairman, valuable fellow travelers, rest assured these clouds will disperse, these injustices will end, justice will find its place sooner or later. My only request from you is this: Do not lose your hope. Look out for each other. Because this city is rising on your shoulders. Your being together here today is our greatest strength. I thank our Chairman Özgür Özel, all my fellow travelers who contributed, and everyone whose heart beats with us. To embrace again in this square as soon as possible, in free days... I greet you with love, respect, faith, and love for Bursa. Greetings to those whose eyes and hearts are in Bursa."