Historic rally by CHP in AKP stronghold Düzce: Yavaş spoke, İmamoğlu's letter was read! Özgür Özel's first reaction to the operations

Turkey woke up to another operation this morning. The 5th wave of the investigation into alleged corruption within the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), which began on March 19, was carried out this morning.

Detention warrants were issued for 47 people as part of 4 separate investigations. 32 people, including mayors and municipal officials, were detained.

Following the operations against the CHP and the İBB, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel decided to proceed with the previously planned rallies in Düzce and Antalya.

The stop for today's rallies, held under the slogan "Standing Up for the National Will," was Düzce. The rally began at 14:00 at Düzce's Anıtpark Square.

MANSUR YAVAŞ SPOKE FIRST

Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (ABB) Mayor Mansur Yavaş was the first to take the stage. Reacting to the dawn raids, Yavaş said in his speech, "There is not the slightest doubt in anyone's mind that these actions are political."

"Since 2019, I and our 11 metropolitan mayors have served in our respective provinces. We worked with a different understanding of municipal governance. We worked for 5 years without any waste, knowing that the money we spent came from you, from the nation, and that we were on the side of the public. We have been working for 5 years to prove that this country can be governed honestly.

Now they want to change the municipal law. They never thought that municipalities would fall into the hands of people who would govern them better one day. Now they say; 'They have too much authority. Let's take their authority away.' Wherever there is someone in need, our municipalities are by their side. This is the case all over Turkey. For this reason, political operations have begun. 65 percent of the Turkish public believes that these operations are political.

There is such a thing as the presumption of innocence. Everyone is innocent in the eyes of the law until the Court of Cassation confirms a person's sentence. Detention is the exception. It is not like that now. People are being labeled as leaders of criminal organizations while still at the prosecutor's office. Their Twitter accounts and photos are being banned. This is completely unconstitutional.

Broadcast all of us, especially our Mayor Ekrem, live on TRT. We are not running away. Even if Ümit Özdağ were to receive a sentence, he has already served more than the sentence he would receive. What are you going to put on trial?"

İMAMOĞLU'S LETTER WAS READ

Following Yavaş, CHP Düzce Provincial Chair Özcan Dağıstanlı took the stage and read the letter from İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is currently detained in Silivri Prison.

"They will not be able to drag Turkey into bottomless abysses. The citizens know very well who is who. Because their seats are slipping away, they are resorting to unimaginable tricks under the guise of law. I challenge you.

Fear is of no use against destiny. First, they canceled my 30-year-old diploma. They are even afraid of my voice and my image. They are so afraid that they are imposing a visitation ban on me in prison."

“They think that this order of waste will never end. Let them not have any hope. Let them label us as a 'criminal organization' as much as they want. The citizens are fed up with these slanders. The citizens know very well who is who. They know who protects and looks after everyone living on these lands, spread across the nation, not just a handful of minorities. İmamoğlu has defeated these wasters four times, and he will continue to defeat them. These wasters mobilized all their resources, ministers, and deputies in every election period, yet they still couldn't break my wrist. Now, because their seats are slipping away, they are resorting to unimaginable, unthinkable tricks under the guise of law. I challenge you. Since the entire judicial mechanism is at your disposal, have the indictment prepared as soon as possible. Lay everything out in the open. What is true and what is false, who is telling the truth and who is lying; let the whole world see.

However, these wasters also know that there is neither a crime nor a criminal organization. Our foreheads are clear, our heads are held high. As the process drags on with an indictment they cannot fill, all those allegations are exploding in their hands because they are baseless. Fear is of no use against destiny. Look, their fear is so great that they have done so many things. First, they had my 30-year-old diploma canceled. That wasn't enough; even before there was an indictment, they declared us guilty and threw us into the dungeon. When they saw that didn't work, they had me blocked on social media. They even tried to ban my videos and posters, fearing even my voice and image. They are in such a state of panic that they are even imposing a visitation ban on me in prison. But their calculations didn't work, they aren't working, and they won't work. The citizens they are trying to intimidate and silence are running to the squares with a louder voice, roaring. Those who underestimate this nation and despise its will will very soon realize what a mistake they have made in a painful way.”

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL DEFIED FROM DÜZCE

Following the reading of İmamoğlu's letter, CHP leader Özgür Özel gave a speech at the rally.

Here are the highlights from Özgür Özel's statements:

"Today, we have come to take refuge in the conscience of Düzce and raise our voices against all oppression.

After the March 19 coup, all of Turkey stood up. We fought for 7 days and 7 nights. Those who woke up early in the morning to talk about trustees found the nation against them. We will be in Antalya tomorrow. But Düzce called us so sincerely and so heartily that we could not help but come here, look you in the eye, and raise this objection from here.

They said don't go, it's an AKP stronghold. They didn't know Düzce. That old politics and polarization are left behind. Those strongholds are left behind. Düzce is not the stronghold of the AKP or anyone else; it is the stronghold of the nation. All democrats of Turkey have united against an autocrat.

"After the March 19 Coup, all of Turkey stood up. Those who woke up early in the morning to talk about trustees found the nation against them. They said don't go to Düzce, it's an AKP stronghold. They forgot the vast conscience and sense of justice of the people of Düzce. Düzce is no longer the stronghold of the AKP or anyone else, it is only the stronghold of the nation.

We, all the democrats of Turkey, have now united against an autocrat. All democrats are together. Strongholds are left behind. If I have a stronghold, let it be sacrificed to the nation. From now on, in spite of those who are offended, those who offend, and those who polarize, goodness will win and the wicked will lose.

Düzce's and the Black Sea's affection for Ekrem İmamoğlu bothered some people. Just like May 27, March 12, September 12, and July 15, they attempted a coup. This time, the coup did not come with boots and tanks, but with a prosecutor's robe.

On March 18, while Mayor Ekrem was at an iftar table, they had the diploma he was given canceled just so he couldn't become president. We have not forgotten those who canceled the diploma. We will hold them accountable. On the morning of March 19, this time at sahur time, they showed up at his door with hundreds of police officers. They staged a coup against the will of Istanbul, which received more than half of every two votes a year ago, and made arrests.

I would like to remind you that Erdoğan was the subject of every one of these slanders thrown at Ekrem İmamoğlu when he was the Mayor of Istanbul, and he was tried. He was tried for bribery, malfeasance, rigging bids, and aiding a terrorist organization. They did not keep him in custody for even a single day during the trial. Erdoğan was tried, he was convicted, and they waited until it was finalized. He made a poetry album in prison, and no one stopped him.

There is an allegation against Mayor Ekrem, but no indictment; there is slander, but no evidence; there is prison, but no trial; even if there were, there is no verdict. There is an understanding that is afraid of his picture, imposing bans on his posters and banners as if he were a criminal.

The Chief Prosecutor, who according to the law cannot return if he enters politics. He was rewarded, became a deputy minister, entered politics, and was brought back to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office from that position. He is constantly trying to create a criminal out of Mayor Ekrem. We are fighting with persistence and patience.

I will not let you get away with these actions. I will hold you accountable.

He tells me; withdraw from the squares, go to your party and sit there. In other words, he says if you take to the streets and fight, I will remove you from your position too. To those who make this threat, to those who unleash child killers upon us, to those who disrupt the peace by making false reports even in this square, I say:

I am the son of two retired teachers. I grew up in a boarding school; I was either supported by the salary the state gave my mother and father or by the mess hall food. This child would normally be afraid of the threats of such big men. If the seat he sat in were not the seat of Gazi Mustafa Kemal.

Some will make calculations because their seat is slipping away, they will carry out operations against the CHP. We will not abandon either the CHP or Mayor Ekrem. We are the Kuva-i Milliye, are we going to be afraid of you? You will drown in the tears of 12-year-old Çınar and the pure civil servant Kadriye Hanım.

The March 19 coup has taken 28 thousand liras from the pocket of every one of the 82 million people. When this coup was carried out, the burned reserve exceeded 60 billion dollars. The financial leg of the coup by Mehmet Şimşek has actually been revealed. When asked why 60 billion dollars went, he was able to say, 'We saved it for these days. We spent it for these days.' With this money, we could have made the pension 30 thousand liras. We could have paid off all the debts of all farmers and given them the interest as well. We could have provided 15 thousand liras in unemployment benefits to all the unemployed. We could have appointed all the unappointed teachers and paid their 3-year salaries in advance. They burned such money supposedly to get rid of Ekrem İmamoğlu. By doing this, you cannot escape either Mayor Ekrem becoming president or the reckoning on the Day of Judgment. The hands of the retirees and farmers are at your throats.

They carry out the operation on Saturday. So that the stock market doesn't fall, so the dollar doesn't skyrocket. If you trust what you are doing, why do you do it on the weekend instead of Wednesday afternoon? The person who made these slanders, Aziz İhsan Aktaş, received tenders from our municipalities before the election, and our mayors stopped him. He received the tenders of the Court of Cassation, Turkish Airlines, and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. He received the tenders of the State Airports Authority, Electricity Generation Inc., and AKP municipalities.

Our municipalities are sending all tender files. They say they need the period after 2019. If a prosecutor seeking justice looks at Mayor Ekrem's period and says take the period before 2019 away, my job is Ekrem's period, he is not after justice, he is after theft. He is stealing Turkey's future.

With the coup he carried out, he is no longer the President, but the head of the junta."