CHP's Günaydın shares İmamoğlu's priority message

CHP Group Deputy Chairman Gökhan Günaydın visited Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor and presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is being held at Silivri (Marmara) Prison, on the second day of Eid al-Adha.

Speaking in front of the prison after the visit, Günaydın evaluated the economic and political situation in Turkey and said, "We are experiencing a bittersweet holiday."

In his statement, Günaydın first emphasized how the public is experiencing the holiday:

"Both economic hardships, the fact that sacrificial animal prices cannot be met with minimum wage and pension salaries, the pocket money that cannot be given to grandchildren, and alongside these, the country's democracy and justice problems are weighing heavily upon us."

CHP's Günaydın stated that before his Silivri visit, he had visited the imprisoned Beylikdüzü Mayor Murat Çalık at Buca Prison, and made notable remarks regarding Çalık's transfer process:

"I visited our Beylikdüzü Mayor Mr. Murat Çalık in Buca yesterday. He was actually staying in Silivri, and a day before the eve of the holiday, his wife and 2 sons were scheduled to visit him for an open visitation at 15:00."

Around 8:00 in the morning, he was notified that he would be transferred, and this transfer was carried out at 10:00. 

'IT ALSO CONSTITUTES A VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL'

I want to appeal to the conscience of our citizens from here. I mean, is there any side to taking a person from here and transferring them 600 km away one day before the holiday, on the day of an open visitation, that aligns with the law, or even with conscience and morality? Please, everyone should consult their own conscience on this. Furthermore, there is an important issue that has not been shared before. It is proven by medical reports; Mr. Çalık has previously suffered from both leukemia and lymphoma (lymph cancer).

Therefore, transferring him to a point extremely far from where he is closest to treatment, his inability to effectively benefit from health services, and besides that, being so far away from his wife, his 2 sons, and of course his lawyers, actually constitutes, in a sense, a violation of the right to effectively benefit from justice services and the right to a fair trial. I would like to emphasize this in particular.

Günaydın stated that he had a meeting with Ekrem İmamoğlu that lasted nearly 1 hour and 15 minutes, and shared the messages İmamoğlu conveyed with the public:

"Today is the second day of the holiday. Today we are addressing you from in front of Silivri Prison. We were in Buca yesterday, we are in Silivri today. I had a meeting with dear Ekrem President lasting nearly 1 hour and 15 minutes. First of all, I would like to share his well wishes, that is, his greetings and holiday celebration messages to all our citizens with you here. Of course, we also conveyed to him the many greetings we received from the outside. Ekrem President has no personal concerns. Ekrem President is troubled by the conspiracy set up against the country's democracy through him. He watches with concern for the future of the country as everyone who has been involved in the past 20 years is subjected to investigation and prosecution processes."

Reacting to the arrest of female employees working at the İBB, Günaydın expressed that what has happened has created a heavy burden on the conscience:

"And of course, he is following with great concern the detention and arrest of our female colleagues working at the İBB, and their subsequent transfer to Düzce, Bolu, and other places. He is following it with great sadness. There is no situation that actually requires them to be tried. Let's say you are trying them. While there are many situations that require trial without arrest, arresting them, or rather, detaining them, not writing the indictment, and furthermore, subjecting them to more cruelty by moving them from prison to prison is a situation that we all truly need to perform a great accounting of conscience for. You released many people who said 'I took a bribe, I gave a bribe' before the holiday under the name of effective remorse, actually through the slanders they made. At the very least, release our female colleagues as soon as possible. Let them reunite with their children. If you are going to try them, you can continue to try them without arrest. We want to convey this message from here as well. Of course, Ekrem President is making evaluations on the Republican People's Party, the direction of the country, and the economic, social, and political landscape. We will, of course, share these with our authorized bodies. But we know that this country must not lose its justice, its democracy, and its economy. These are all interrelated issues."