CHP Chairman Özgür Özel reveals the truth behind the 'phone' allegations against Ekrem İmamoğlu

The latest stop for the 'The Nation Protects Its Will' rallies, which began following the arrest of İmamoğlu, is Pendik. Citizens have begun to gather in the area for the rally in question. Citizens gathered in the area for the rally in question.

Making statements before the rally, CHP Deputy Chairman Gökan Zeybek said the following:

"We continue to say it persistently and stubbornly; we demand that the elected Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and CHP's presidential candidate in the first elections, Ekrem İmamoğlu, be tried without arrest.”

EKREM İMAMOĞLU'S MESSAGE

CHP İstanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik read Ekrem İmamoğlu's letter:

“Before us is a handful of people who know very well that they will never win an election again and are deathly afraid of this. You can see what great anxiety and panic they have been in for months. Every investigation they open, every perception operation they conduct, backfires on them. Every detention, every arrest they make causes their votes to drop a little more. Attempts to win elections by eliminating the opponent find no place in the conscience. As they move away from fairness, they fall from the nation's eyes. We, on the other hand, are walking towards the goal with brave and determined steps. Since March 19, we have been multiplying by the millions. All over the country, in the squares, we are growing democracy, solidarity, struggle, and enthusiasm. We are not running, we are walking step by step, but with every step, we are shaking the earth and the sky. Because we are right, and whatever we want, we want it for this country, for this nation.

“WE WANT TURKEY TO OVERCOME ITS PROBLEMS UNDER THE NATION'S ARBITRATION”

Dear brothers and sisters; we want things to be as the nation says. We want Turkey to overcome its problems under the nation's arbitration. Following the PKK terrorist organization's laying down of arms and self-dissolution, we need to build a participatory, transparent, and democratic process under the guidance of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) all together. It is our responsibility to our history, our nation, and our common future for our country to progress with patience and a participatory will towards the goal of a terror-free and democratic Turkey that has won the trust of our nation. To successfully complete this process, it is essential that a 'Commission for a Terror-Free and Democratic Turkey' be established with the participation of all parties and that this commission works with a transparent, participatory, and democratic will. This path is not only the end of terror but also the restoration of democracy and the rule of law.

“THE NATION'S WILL IS SUCH A GREAT LIGHT THAT IT ILLUMINATES OUR COUNTRY, ILLUMINATES OUR FUTURE”

We believe that if this process leads to Turkey becoming a truly democratic country, it will achieve success and give hope and confidence to our nation. The greatest need in the formation of this trust is the provision of equality before the law for everyone and the expansion of the political ground for everyone. We are a party that has adopted the principle of the nation's unconditional sovereignty. We are followers of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said, 'National sovereignty is such a light that chains melt, crowns and thrones burn and disappear before it.' The nation's will is such a great light that it illuminates our country, illuminates our future. The nation is great. Everything will be very beautiful. Everything will be very beautiful. Everything will be very beautiful. Stay healthy. Ekrem İmamoğlu.”

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL: WE HAVE LEFT THAT OLD POLITICS BEHIND

The highlights from CHP Chairman Özgür Özel's speech are as follows:

"This evening, we are holding our sixth district meeting in Istanbul. After the March 19 coup attempt, we resisted together for seven days and seven nights in Saraçhane. First of all, when we received the news of the coup on the first day, we evaluated the situation with our Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik. He went in front of the Vatan Police Headquarters. I went to Saraçhane. We knew that the purpose of the coup was to appoint a trustee to the will of Istanbul, to seize Saraçhane, and that they wanted to manage the IMM, which they could not win by election, through appointment. That day we said, 'Let's make a call here this evening.' While we were saying this, of course, with the instruction from the very top, the Istanbul Governorship banned gathering, assembling, marching, and protesting for three people for five days. They removed the bridges, the bridges coming to Saraçhane, to the historical peninsula. They closed the subways, the subway stations. They chained the ferries to the piers. They did not let buses and private vehicles approach Saraçhane within a 7.5-kilometer radius. We said, 'What will happen?', 'Whatever happens, it will happen this evening. Either the people of Istanbul will protect who they elected this evening, or the era of the appointed will begin. The ballot box will go, the trustee will come.'

“WE PROTECTED MAYOR EKREM”

Our eyes and ears were on the roads. Two important things happened there. First, the Republican People's Party members in front of the Vatan Police Headquarters crossed the barriers there; second, the students in front of Istanbul University crossed the barriers and came to the square. The first five-six thousand people shared photos on social media there and called out to us. We went out and called out to them from the balcony. We said, 'We are calling all of Istanbul here.' Suddenly, those who came walking 10 kilometers, those who came by wandering from far away despite the bridges being removed, those who came with their children in their arms, with a three-month-old baby in their womb, those who came by taking their mother's and father's arm, repelled the March 19 coup attempt. The 100 thousands who gathered that night became 500 thousand, became 1 million 200 thousand. For seven days and seven nights, we carried out one of the most important resistances in Turkish political history there together. Then we crossed the bridge and came here to Maltepe. Millions of us shouted our will, we protected the mayor we elected, Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mayor Ekrem. Since that day, every weekend in a province, starting from Samsun, in Yozgat, in Mersin, in Konya, in Van, and finally on May 19, we were in Gündoğdu Square with 2 million people from Izmir. We held the fifth of the district rallies last week in Silivri. They said, 'You held a magnificent rally on May 19. I guess it ends here.' We said, 'May 19 is not the date of endings, of farewells; it is the date of beginnings, of the first step. Of the first step.' We said this... We repeat it from here too. 'On May 19 in Izmir, we did not realize a closing, a final; we realized a beginning. Until we take Mayor Ekrem, our mayors, our municipal council members, our bureaucrats in the municipality, all our friends to the field, I swear this is a beginning. The first rally after May 19 is in Pendik. We are starting from Pendik.' This is the voice Turkey wants to hear, the slogan we need. They are all saying together, 'This is just the beginning, continue the struggle.'

“WE ARE SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH DEMOCRATS”

For days, the Anatolian side has been calling us. For days they have been saying, 'Let's hold a rally in Pendik, a district that is not held by the Republican People's Party on the Anatolian side.' Pendik is undoubtedly the third largest municipality in Istanbul and the 9th in Turkey. With a population of 750 thousand, it is a district that the Justice and Development Party has won for years and considers its stronghold. However, there is one thing we have always said in this process. We have left that old politics far behind. In politics, there is no longer his stronghold or that one's stronghold. We showed this in Yozgat, we showed this in Konya, we showed this in Van. This evening, we are shouting from Pendik to all of Turkey that Pendik is not the AKP's or anyone else's; it is the nation's stronghold. In this district, which the Justice and Development Party has managed for 25 years, where it has not solved and cannot solve its problems but has always considered it a sure thing, in the last elections, we appeared before the people of Pendik with a candidate we know, recognize, and believe will solve Pendik's problems, Tarık Balyalı. We reached 43 percent, the highest vote in our history, but it didn't happen. But all the people of Pendik, the very valuable voters of Pendik from the AK Party, MHP, and other parties, should know that we do not come from an understanding that gets offended by the district it cannot win like some, that punishes the voter who does not vote, but from an understanding that looks for the fault in itself and tries to compensate for what it did wrong today for the future. We come from the tradition of İsmet Pasha, who considered the election he lost as a gain for the country's democracy. We come from an understanding that has not been the first party for 47 years and has not been offended by the ballot box, has not been angry at the voter, has not attempted a coup, and even when a coup was attempted against the party we were most hostile to on July 15, defended the ballot box, democracy, the nation's will, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, that is, defended democracy. Let no one mistake us for the coup plotters who win elections for years and put the national will on a pedestal when they are the first party, but attempt a coup when an election is lost. The Republican People's Party is a party that has stood shoulder to shoulder with all the democrats of Turkey against those who do not want to come with the ballot box and go with the ballot box today, and who try to run away from the ballot box in front of the nation, not just its own voters. Just as we succeeded in the local elections, in the elections after this, we will bring Turkey's social democrats, conservative democrats, nationalist democrats, liberal democrats, socialist democrats, Kurdish democrats shoulder to shoulder, side by side with the Turkey Alliance and defeat the autocrats. I swear we will defeat them.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO US IS VERY INSTRUCTIVE”

It has been exactly 62 days. It has been exactly 62 days since a coup was staged against Mayor Ekrem, that is, the elected, trusted, city-guardian person of beautiful Istanbul, whom the world knows best in Turkey, whom some do not know the name of Turkey but know his name, the guardian of the city, the one who came with a difference of 806 thousand when they played foul and canceled his mandate when he won the first election, the Mayor Ekrem who came out of the ballot box three times in a row against those whose wrists they could not bend by bringing prime ministers, parliament speakers, or urban planning ministers against him after serving for five years. Erdoğan imprisoned Ekrem İmamoğlu because he was afraid of competing with him, because he realized he could not defeat him. Like the Ergenekon and Balyoz conspiracies, Erdoğan imprisoned Mayor Ekrem because he could not defeat him by competing. They slandered, they are still slandering. They told lies, they are still telling them. Let's take a brief look at what happened to us in 62 days and what they are doing today. It is very instructive... They said, 'There is 560 billion in corruption.' However, we have been managing Istanbul for six years, the six-year budget is 490 billion liras. 60-70 percent of this money is personnel salaries. If you didn't pay any salaries to the personnel, didn't pour any asphalt, didn't collect any trash, didn't produce and distribute any water, didn't do any service, 350 billion of the 490 billion is personnel salaries... They say, 'There is 560 billion in corruption.' They couldn't prove a single lira of it. They accused Mayor Ekrem of helping the terrorist organization they are sitting at the table and agreeing with today, but they couldn't prove it. They said, 'There are safes in the house. It will come out with a crane.' They could only find 4 thousand liras inside a piggy bank. They said, '1,200 phones were distributed at the congress.' The brand of phone they mentioned was produced a year after the congress and came to Turkey. We showed all the phones, they couldn't find even one of what they said. They served it as 'Ekrem Bey has luxury cars in the garages', they talked for three days. When they saw that the cars belonged to an MHP deputy, they fell silent, they sat down. They said, 'There is money in the suitcase.' Jammers left by the late Kadir Topbaş came out of the suitcase they mentioned. They fell silent, they couldn't say anything. From what they said 'There are serious documents', from what they said 'Statements will emerge', to statements like 'I heard so, I guess so'... After talking for four months, a bag of empty napkins almost came out of the MASAK report they received in the last two days. They couldn't make a single proof. Erdoğan said, 'They won't be able to look each other in the face after a month.' Two months passed, Erdoğan forgot what he said. I am here, I am looking into the eyes of the people of Pendik, I am proud of my friends.”

“EITHER YOU WILL KNOW YOUR LIMITS OR WE WILL NOT LET YOU GO”

Now after all these lies... Look, 560 billion; lie. Luxury car; lie. Cell phone; lie. Money safe; lie. Carrying money in suitcases, MASAK report... Now they have come out for two days, they say 'We found a phone.' Which phone did you find? They say, 'A house was visited. A phone was found in that house. This was Ekrem İmamoğlu's secret phone.' Shamelessly, without embarrassment. Friends, this booing business is not a good thing. I don't let anyone be booed. I let one person be booed in my life. That was the Çatalca mufti who said 'He died on stage' for Volkan Konak when Volkan Konak passed away, you know. I said to him, 'I won't let you go.' I didn't let him go in any square; not in Van, not in Mersin, not in Samsun, not in Silivri, not in Izmir... It was announced last night, they took him from the Çatalca Mufti's Office, stripped him of his mufti rank, and appointed him as a preacher to Kocaeli. He wrote, 'Since we are at war, of course we will pay the price.' You didn't pay that price, I didn't see the 'b' of the price, the 'b' of it. But I am telling that mufti, the former mufti who was sent as a preacher to the Kocaeli Mufti's Office from here. Look, no one could stand behind what you did, they couldn't stand behind you. Now you are going to Kocaeli as a preacher, while it is advised to speak well behind the dead, you did the exact opposite, you cursed. You are serving your sentence. Don't you dare. We are the biggest family in Turkey. We are in every mosque, we listen to every sermon. If you are rude, we will come there and tear your mouth. Thank God, this party also has members who have devoted their hearts to this party in every mosque, in every congregation, and this party's members are also in Kocaeli, wherever you are, they are there. Either you will know your limits there, or we will not let you go. Now, as the Republican People's Party, we do not let anyone, politician or otherwise, be booed, we are leaving this booing business aside.

“YOU CANNOT INVENT EVIDENCE FROM LIES”

Now they have told a world of lies, and you counted them a moment ago. Now for two days, 'We found a phone, we found a phone.' Big journalists, columnists are writing shamelessly, saying 'Sir, the phone was found, the investigation will start from scratch. New evidence will emerge.' The phone they say 'We found a phone' is a phone that Mayor Ekrem used when he was the Mayor of Beylikdüzü, which he forwarded to the Private Secretary when he moved to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, which he turned off, threw into a drawer, which has not made any calls for five years, which was used from the Private Secretary when called, and which never, ever had any information, documents, or problems in it, now for three days-two days they are saying 'The phone was found' for perception management. I am telling all of Turkey from here. We are facing a big lie. The mentioned phone is the phone with the number 532 721 03 25, which Mayor Ekrem recorded in his first statement. He said it on the first day. I am telling the fools who are happy saying 'I found a phone'; even Graham Bell, who found the phone, was not as happy as you are for inventing the phone. You cannot invent evidence from lies. We announce to all of Turkey that; the phone they call the newly found phone is the phone we already mentioned, there is absolutely nothing that will change the status of the evidence. Mayor Ekrem is innocent, and I vouch for him to the end. Now from here, from this enthusiastic square, I am making a call to Erdoğan: This conspiracy you built with lies has hit a wall. The slanders written in the indictment have rotted, have been exhausted. The nation has not consented to this conspiracy, has not been convinced. You made a mistake, turn back while the road is near. If you turn back from this mistake, you will only have turned back from a mistake, you will apologize. If you do not turn back from this mistake, you are going down in history as a coup plotter, you will remain as a junta leader.

“IF YOU HAVE THE COURAGE, COME TO TRT”

As you persist, you are both finishing yourselves and finishing the country. The Central Bank burned 60 billion dollars of reserves for this cause. This money is 27 thousand liras per person. This money came out of the baby in the cradle born last night, the patient on the deathbed, and everyone in this square, 86 million separately. Exactly 27 thousand liras each. It is possible to give retirees a salary of 30 thousand liras, not 14 thousand, and to do this for 10 years with this money. It is possible to erase all the debts of the farmers and give them as much money on top of it with this money. It is possible to give students who use loans from the Credit and Dormitories Institution 30 thousand liras, not 3 thousand, and to continue this for 10 years with this money. We say this to those who spend the money that cannot be found for the retiree, the worker, the farmer, the civil servant to keep Mayor Ekrem in prison: Fear is of no use to the appointed time of death, you will go. Turkey's new President will be Ekrem İmamoğlu. From here, we challenge Erdoğan once again from Pendik Square. Erdoğan, you sent someone. He designed something with lies, slanders, secret witnesses, forced slanders, it's not working. You trust him, we trust our friends. If you have the courage, prepare the indictment as soon as possible. Broadcast the trials of our friends live on TRT. Let this nation see the slander and hear the answer. Erdoğan, the Pendik you have won for 25 years is groaning 'Right, law, justice'. And it is calling out to you. It says 'Come, come, if you have the courage, come to TRT. Let's hear it on live broadcast.' From here, I am saying this to both those in the square and those in front of the television. From tomorrow on, whoever you see from the AK Party on the street, in the park, in the bazaar, in the market, while shopping, visiting a house, going to work on the shuttle, ask this. Say, 'Why are these not broadcast on TRT? We hear the slanders, but why can't we hear the answers? Are you up for it to be broadcast on TRT?' say. Are you up for it? Let those who trust themselves broadcast it.

“THOSE WHO ARE AFRAID HAVE NO PLACE IN HISTORY”

Dear friends, with your permission, I want to address the young AKP members in Pendik, the young AKP members in Istanbul, the young AKP members in Turkey from Pendik Square and make a call to them. Look, young friends, women and men, all young people, we all know football. You know that life is terribly similar to football. Politics is even more similar. See this; let's accept politics like a football match. We have been competing with Tayyip Bey for years. Tayyip Bey won for 23 years. But in the March 31 elections, in the last election, we won. The AK Party became the second party after 23 years, and the Republican People's Party became the first party after 23 years. Now Tayyip Bey got angry when that ball we played the match with went into his own goal. He took the ball, he is coming to your house, to the AK Party. 'I won't let anyone play,' he says. 'Since I'm not winning, there's no match anymore,' he says. 'I will cut this ball, we won't play a match from now on,' he says. Young AKP member brother from Pendik, AKP youth branches, young AK Party members in Turkey, tell Tayyip Bey, call him grandfather, call him father, call him leader. 'Why is it good when you win but why are we running away when you lose?' say. 'Why are you cutting the ball?' say. 'Give that ball, you sit at home, we will go and play,' say. Look, AK Party friends, maybe you will lose a match, you will lose two matches. But you will not lose your honor, your pride, your dignity. There is winning, there is losing. Playing when you win and cutting the ball when you lose does not suit anyone. Tayyip Bey should also learn to lose. If the young AK Party members take the ball and come, the AK Party will turn into a democratic party. Maybe it will lose the first election, but in the future, you will all have political opportunities. There will be a possibility of power. If that ball is cut, if democracy ends, nothing will remain. Only one man and the disaster he created will remain. You will also be a partner in that shame. Don't do this to yourselves, don't make your family experience this shame. Come to the field, come to the field. Those who are afraid and run away cannot go down in history, those who win go down in history, those who lose also go down in history. But those who are afraid have no place in history.

“YOUR GUARANTEE IS THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY STATE”

This is Pendik, this is one of the districts where labor is strongest. Mr. Erdoğan, we know you watch Halk TV. We know you look at Halk TV, Sözcü TV, Tele 1 often. We know you sometimes get angry when you watch. If you say 'They are saying something, I don't understand', you know you canceled the 31-year-old diploma and it came out when questioned, and you had that removed that very day too. Pendik Square is also questioning your diploma. They say 'Diploma-less Erdoğan', they say. If you are going to have a diploma questioned, you don't have a diploma questioned by putting some pro-government lecturer here and there with a fake master's degree and giving instructions. I will have your diploma questioned by 10 thousands, 100 thousands, by millions, millions. I will give a guarantee from here and then I will move on to the work of my laboring brothers. The young AK Party, MHP members are saying 'Our people canceled the man's diploma when they saw the difficulty. What will happen if this CHP comes tomorrow, if this Ekrem İmamoğlu comes, and he cancels our diplomas too?' We are saying it clearly from here. Ekrem İmamoğlu will not do the Presidency like Erdoğan, he will do the Presidency like Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Therefore, in Ekrem Bey's Presidency, in CHP's Alliance and in the Turkey Alliance, everyone's diploma, title deed, marriage certificate, bank account book is under guarantee. Your guarantee is the Republic of Turkey state.

“WE WILL MAKE A NEW BEGINNING ALL TOGETHER”

Dear people of Pendik, Pendik and the settlements around it are one of the regions where laborers are most concentrated in Turkey. Today, we will make a new beginning all together from here this evening. With the reserves burned in the failed coup attempt and the rising interest rates again, the interest rates, which were 47.5 percent at once, increased the interest rates of the loans used by SMEs and industrialists to 70 percent. According to TUIK, four-month inflation is 13 percent. The minimum wage, which was 22 thousand liras at the beginning of the year, has now fallen to 19 thousand liras of that day in terms of purchasing power. That is, it melted by 3 thousand liras. According to ENAG, it melted by 4 thousand 400 liras. Before the last elections, they were saying 'We will raise the minimum wage four times if necessary in an inflationary environment.' Now, more than the raise given in four months is gone. From tomorrow on, we have decided to start the work for a real raise in the minimum wage in July, for an interim raise, by taking our visit schedule to all labor unions and confederations, together with labor organizations, employer organizations, and workers. We will get a raise in the minimum wage in July by taking the suggestions of the unions, doing the necessary research, doing the necessary work, meeting with workers and employers, and again bringing solution proposals that will prevent this burden from falling on the backs of small businesses and SMEs, we will get a raise, we will get a raise, we will get a raise. You are very sweet, but come on, instead of cheering for Chairman Özgür, let's send a greeting to Mayor Ekrem, our mayors, our friends.

“THEY ARE APPLYING ENEMY LAW TO THE YOUTH”

Now we did it once in Saraçhane. The next day he came and said 'Chairman Özgür, I have been doing this job for years. No one noticed me.' This drone has an operator. Let's give a round of applause to my laboring brother. (Slogans) There were our young people who were detained and arrested because they did what you did. There were thousands of detentions and 301 arrests in Saraçhane. 36 young friends are still in detention. The judge who will decide on the detention of the Boğaziçi detainees today has gone and taken a one-week annual leave. They are saying to the children 'Wait one more week.' They are almost applying enemy law to opposition youth, objecting youth, university youth. Health to the labor and heart of all our young friends in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and all over Turkey who started the resistance against the coup. We also kiss the foreheads of our 36 friends who are inside.

“AN UNDERSTANDING THAT WANTS TO PUNISH THE KURDISH VOTER”

You know, there is an understanding that wants to punish the Kurdish voters who vote for our party together with them by gathering a deputy mayor in Ataşehir and Kartal, and a municipal council member in eight of our municipalities, to instill fear in the municipalities in their own minds, to make our mayors uneasy, and through those municipal council members. DEM Party calls this City Consensus. They say 'If we win the election, we win. In places where we cannot win, we look at the candidate. If they are democratic candidates who will not commit crimes against the city and whom we can vote for, we also support them.' The name of this in our party is broader. We call this the Pendik Alliance, Istanbul Alliance, Turkey Alliance. But from DEM, or from other parties, if they are opinion leaders, if they can bring votes, even if they have done politics in another party in the past, if they are democrats, if they have no problem with the integrity of this country, if they are loyal to their homeland and nation, we take them into this alliance.

“IF THERE IS SUCH A CRIME, THE PERPETRATOR IS ME”

In all provinces in Turkey, in many districts, names from various political parties were taken. In Istanbul, names who have done politics in DEM in the past or opinion leaders of the Kurds who will vote were included in the lists in the districts. This is neither a flaw nor a sin. But the prosecutor wrote, 'By entering the election from CHP lists in places where they cannot win the municipality in the west, the Kurds in the west gained the opportunity to be represented...' He shows this as a crime. If there is such a crime, the perpetrator of that crime is me, my brother, me. They are openly bargaining with the PKK on one hand, and conducting a process with the PKK. They are praising Abdullah Öcalan. On the other hand, they take a Kurdish citizen who takes part in the municipal councils and put them inside, they are judging them from HDK. Their hearing was today. Even though it is written in many decisions, especially the decision of the Izmir 12th High Criminal Court, that HDK is a congress and not a terrorist organization, they judged 10 people for 10 hours today and decided to continue their detention until some date in September. Shame on them. On one side is the right to hope that Mr. Devlet talks about, on the other side is one of the healthiest collaborations of Turkish democracy, it is a big blow dealt to Turkey's peace with such injustices they have done. Neither a mayor nor a municipal council member is responsible for this issue. Those who criminalize this step taken for Turkey's unity and solidarity are Turkey's greatest enemies. Let everyone in Turkey know that those in this square, those standing side by side in this square, are democrats who can defend the freedom of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Selahattin Demirtaş, and Ümit Özdağ together. This applause in this square is Turkey's hope. You are Turkey's hope. Sir, let them take Ümit Özdağ inside, let someone rejoice at that. Let them take Mr. Selahattin, let someone else rejoice. Let them take Mayor Ekrem, let the other rejoice. Let one man rejoice always. There is no such plunder; there is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us.

“I AM WITH THOSE WHO THINK OF EVERYONE, NOT THEMSELVES”

There are those in the country who think of everyone, not just themselves. Thank God, I am with them in Pendik Square this evening. Welcome, all of you. And there is someone who doesn't think of anyone and only thinks of himself. Now, with the state's money, he gives the state's money to agencies and has a campaign done for himself. The votes have dropped, you know. He is having a campaign done to raise himself from there, as a 'global leader'. I am telling Erdoğan from here; one who is not a democrat at home cannot be a global leader. One who is an autocrat at home, one who is a dictator at home, cannot be a leader to the world, nor a global leader. At most, he becomes disgraceful. He also disgraces the country. One who does not protect the Palestinian cause, which the CHP has protected since Ecevit and Yaser Arafat, the just struggle for liberation of Palestine, which Deniz Gezmiş and his friends went and supported, one who tries to make Gaza a coastal town with Trump's word, one who remains silent about the removal of Palestinians from Gaza, one who waits for the Turkic Republics to recognize Northern Cyprus while remaining silent about the Turkic Republics recognizing Southern Cyprus, one who remains silent about the occupations in the Islands in the Aegean, one who leaves Turkey's rights and interests between Trump's two lips cannot be a global leader. I don't know if the AK Party members remain silent about someone like this sacrificing the country's interests for his own calculations. But this square will not remain silent, it has not remained silent, it will not remain silent.

“WE WILL ESTABLISH DEMOCRACY ONCE AGAIN”

We said 'May 19 is not the end, it is the beginning'. You called after May 19, we ran and came to Pendik first. We were welcomed with magnificent enthusiasm, magnificent hospitality. Is this square ready to take on the task of reaching 20 million in signatures, which is walking towards 20 million, exceeding 15 million, and walking towards 28 million with this energy? Are we ready to take the empty signature sheets from the district stands, go door to door, convince those who do not sign, go to places that cannot be reached, and complete the signatures? After having the 20 millionth signature verified by a notary, we will count back the remaining 8 million signatures one by one. We are telling everyone who is worried from here. 'I want to give many signatures, I will enter the civil service, I am afraid.' To those who say 'My grandchild is a police officer, I am afraid.' 'There is an interview, I am afraid', the signatures are entrusted to us, entrusted to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's party. We will not give it to anyone. We will only show it for verification to the notary. Those signatures will be kept in the Republican People's Party as everyone's honor. Now let's call out from here all together with a voice loud enough to make our voice heard towards Silivri. O Erdoğan, I am my nation, I am the national will. Whatever I say, it happens. Leave my candidate, bring the ballot box. I want my candidate by my side, the ballot box in front of me. This ballot box will either come or come with your faith, determination, enthusiasm, courage. When we were closing in Izmir last time, we said 'Let's walk, friends'. Then Pendik, you called today, we came. It was worth calling, it was worth coming. You showed a magnificent voice, great faith, great determination. There is no stopping from now on, we will save Turkey once again all together, we will establish democracy once again. Are we up for it? Are we ready? Then let's walk, friends.”