CHP Chairman Özgür Özel warns at awards ceremony: This election will be between democracy and autocracy

Özel was scheduled to present an award to Timur Soykan as previously planned. Özel spoke about the detention of Soykan and Ağırel this morning.

Özel's speech is as follows:

"A little while ago, while presenting the award to Ms. Nurcan, I said that this would probably be an awards ceremony you would never forget in your life. Because the person I was going to present the award to was detained at his home this morning.

In fact, he had an appointment with the prosecutor's office clerk for 11 o'clock today. He was going to be invited to the prosecutor's office and give his statement as it should be. And he had said he would come; he was not unreachable when called.

But so that the event could be turned into a criminal matter by some, so that it could take on a theatrical form, he was taken from his home early in the morning, with images of police holding his arm as if he were going to a doctor's examination, to intimidate everyone. Then his statement was taken at the police station, and then he appeared before the prosecutor. Now, right at the time of the awards, he is appearing before a judge with a request for arrest.

I am not going to recount what has been happening lately. Those who explain it best to the nation are here. But when you look at the state of the country, there are films that tell the story of the Italian mafia's activities and how they operate. If we were on the set of one of those, some things would be an exaggeration."

I do not want to refer to the perverse men who advocate for the expulsion of foreign press representatives in Turkey, who advocate for Russia-style practices, who have lost their essence and are blinded by rage, as your colleagues, but that is how it is in Turkey. It is not under a CHP government or anything. So it is very clear that this election will be between democracy and autocracy from now on. A choice will be made. It is not about staying away from anyone on the side of democracy, or saying “it will be our government,” but it will be the government of democrats. Among those democrats, we will be with the social democrats, conservative democrats, nationalist democrats, Kurdish democrats, liberals, whoever is there to fight against the autocrat, and we will first change this oppressive one-man regime in this country. And then, we will not build this regime, this regime, like this ever again.

Today, it is not about "let's seize theirs, let it be ours"; it is a press law where no one can ever seize the press again. A judicial reform where no one can ever seize the judiciary again. A political ethics law where no one can ever mix unethical business into politics again. GRECO criteria so that no one can ever tear Turkey away from Europe again. With a full membership march to the European Union so that there is no turning back from this path, I hope to build the days when all journalists in this country can freely practice their profession again.

Until the days come when all the friends working for us, except those who do so as part of their journalism training, can go to a newspaper and freely criticize even us the next day, let us continue the struggle together."