CHP issues 'ban' warning: The government has become an expert in bans and lawlessness to protect its position

CHP Spokesperson Deniz Yücel, in his statement while the MYK meeting was ongoing, said, "In its public statements regarding the new Constitution, the government promised regulations that would be considered 'acceptable' by all segments of society. While doing so, it did everything it could to create the perception that anyone who objects is an 'enemy.' The government's true intention was never to expand freedoms or democratic rights. Nor did they have any real concern for creating a 'civil' constitution. Indeed, a Constitution that only has the word 'new' written on it, but is written with a putschist mentality, is certainly not being made for 86 million people," he stated.

CHP Spokesperson Deniz Yücel made statements regarding the meeting agenda while the MYK meeting was ongoing:

"SLING MUD, SO IT STICKS"

Listing the names of the mayors and their deputies who were detained two days ago in the 6th wave operation, Yücel said, "An endless series of operations, detentions started before dawn. It is always the same scenario. Regarding the names detained, a number of allegations immediately begin to be reported in the pro-government media, especially TRT. Mayors and municipal bureaucrats who have passed inspector audits for years are being judged, cut, shaped, discredited, and convicted via pro-government media before their statements are even taken. They say millions were found in safes, it's a lie. They say bullets were found, it's a lie. They say there is a MASAK report, it's a lie. What is being done is 'sling mud, so it sticks'," he said.

"THEY ARE AFRAID OF THE FARMER, THE VILLAGER"

Stating that "We all know that these actions and these experiences are part of the 'shaking' strategy that the government is carrying out against CHP municipalities," Yücel noted the following in his statement:

"The AKP government is afraid of everyone who criticizes it, or even has the potential to criticize it. They are afraid of the young people who threw their caps in Antalya yesterday and celebrated their graduation in the square, ignoring the bans. They are afraid of the retirees to whom they deem 14 thousand liras a month appropriate. They are afraid of the reaction of the worker who cannot make ends meet and the teacher who has not been appointed. They are afraid of the farmers and villagers who have taken to the roads with their tractors. They are afraid of business people and non-governmental organizations who criticize the lawlessness in the country. They are so desperate and pathetic that they think they can cover up problems and facts with political operations in which they use the judiciary as a tool.

"THE PURPOSE IS CLEAR, THE TARGET IS CLEAR, THE INTENTION IS CLEAR: NOT TO LET MAYOR EKREM ENTER THE ELECTION"

The national will has been held captive for 75 days. Our Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor, Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has defeated the AKP and Tayyip Erdoğan exactly 4 times—once in Beylikdüzü in 2014, twice in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 2019, and finally in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 2024—has been held captive for 75 days. They canceled the election he won on March 31, 2019, with a 13 thousand vote margin, which was as pure as his mother's milk, and he won again on June 23 with an 800 thousand vote margin. Those who canceled the election via the Supreme Election Council (YSK) 5 years ago sent Mr. İmamoğlu to the Silivri dungeon on March 19 with a hollow, completely political investigation. Look, the scenario has not changed. The scenario is the same. Only the actors have changed. Yesterday via the YSK, today via the judiciary. The purpose is clear, the target is clear, the intention is clear: not to let Mayor Ekrem enter the election. Because they do not have the courage to compete fairly with Mr. İmamoğlu. Their fear is so great that, although they have no right or authority, they banned Mr. İmamoğlu's image, voice recordings, and posters. First, they launched an investigation against our deputies who hung the "Free İmamoğlu" poster on the July 15 Martyrs Bridge. Then, they fined the CHP members who hung İmamoğlu's poster on the historical walls of Diyarbakır and took the poster down in a hurry. It wasn't enough; they wanted to block our CHP Youth Branch members who wanted to enter the area with an "Freedom for İmamoğlu" poster at our Istanbul Esenler rally. Those who came to power saying they would fight against bans have become experts in bans and lawlessness when it comes to staying in power.

"THIS STRUGGLE IS THE HONORABLE STRUGGLE FOR THE RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OF 86 MILLION"

Let us address the AKP government from here. What you do not understand is this: this struggle is not just a struggle about İmamoğlu. This struggle is the honorable struggle for the rights and freedoms of 86 million. Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu is the symbol of freedoms, resistance, and the demands for rights, law, and justice against your oppressive, censorious, and prohibitionist mentality. No matter what you do, you cannot break the bond Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu has established with the people. You cannot cut off his dialogue with the nation. You cannot silence or stop the millions who want freedom and justice in the person of Ekrem İmamoğlu.

The cost of living, of which the AKP government is the architect, is our main agenda as always. The street's rebellion of 'we cannot make ends meet' has always been our priority. Those who set out 23 years ago with the fairy tale of fighting against the 3Ys (corruption, poverty, and bans) now sleep and wake up with corruption, systematically impoverish the people, and ban opposition thought, those who protest, those who express their opinions, the national will, and the person who will emerge from the first ballot box as president. Those who say 'I have nothing but this ring' have flying palaces, floating palaces, summer and winter palaces, double salaries, so-called reputations they do not save on, official vehicles with long convoys, and thousands of bodyguards. Erdoğan, the victim who went to prison 28 years ago because of a poem he read, has turned into the cruel Erdoğan who sends his rivals to prison unfairly and unlawfully with abstract allegations, baseless accusations, fabricated evidence, and secret witnesses.

"THE ECONOMY THEY SAID WOULD SOAR CANNOT EVEN STAND ON ITS FEET"

They said, 'We did not come to be masters of this nation, but to be servants,' and they became lords over the nation. They said we came to be servants; they expected contentment from the worker and laborer, and sacrifice from the retiree. They said we came to be servants; they expected obedience from everyone who did not think like them. When it did not suit them, they denied it; they wrote the book on hypocrisy. They became everything, but they could not be the servants of the nation. At the end of 23 years, they did everything they said they would not do. Today, we are facing a government that can no longer manage the country, cannot solve problems, drifts as it fails to manage, and whose seats shake as it drifts. They do not care about the troubles of the worker struggling to make a living on minimum wage. They do not care about the troubles of the father trying to educate his child with meager means, the mother who cannot feed meat to her children, or the retiree who cannot give holiday pocket money to their grandchild. They do not care about the troubles of the farmer who sells their produce below production costs just so it doesn't stay in their hands, the tradesman who cannot replace the goods they sell, or the young people hopeless about their future. The economy they said would soar cannot even stand on its feet.

"THEY SHOULD NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT NOT MAKING AN INTERIM RAISE IN JULY"

The hunger threshold is 25 thousand liras, and the poverty threshold is 81 thousand liras. Over 17 million minimum wage earners and their families are struggling to survive below the hunger threshold. Today, 6 out of every 10 workers receive the minimum wage or a wage close to it. Under these conditions, while the trouble of 86 million is poverty and the cost of living, the government's agenda is Ekrem İmamoğlu, CHP municipalities, changing the constitution they do not comply with anyway, and paving the way for Erdoğan to be re-elected President. The entire effort of the Republican People's Party is to build a democratic Turkey where the laborer can get the reward for their labor. To build a Turkey where not even a single person experiences the cost of living and can live in peace and prosperity. Our General Chair, Mr. Özgür Özel, met with DİSK, TİSK, HAK-İŞ, and TÜRK-İŞ last week. He reminded them that the minimum wage, which is impossible to live on, has not seen a single cent of increase for a year, and proposed to the unions to act together regarding obtaining the July interim raise, which is the worker's right. We call on the AKP government from here; they should not even think about not making an interim raise in July.

The laborer no longer has the strength to endure. The curse and sin of millions of laborers and their families are upon you. The fact that great efforts are being made today for an interim raise, which was a routine practice in the past, is the most concrete indicator of AKP's perspective on the worker, the laborer, and the low-income earner. Those who said in the 2023 elections, 'the minimum wage should be increased four times a year,' saw even an interim raise as too much in 2024. By making daily decisions in the economy, not long-term ones, a state of instability was created, and the segment we call the middle class was destroyed by such wrong economic policies. The minimum wage is normally a starting wage, and it is a wage that is quickly moved away from by receiving increases as seniority is gained.

"IT HAS DIVIDED 86 MILLION INTO 2 CLASSES AS 'VERY RICH' AND 'VERY POOR'"

However, unfortunately, the situation in our country is very different from this. Because the gap between the minimum wage and civil servant salaries in Turkey is closing rapidly, all salaries are falling to the minimum wage level. The rapid closing of the gap between civil servant salaries and the minimum wage, and the middle class reaching the point of almost disappearing, has divided 86 million into 2 classes as 'very rich' and 'very poor.' The manipulation of inflation figures controlled through TÜİK to be announced as low has also stolen bread from the table and peace and prosperity from society. The worker, the retiree, and the civil servant cannot make ends meet. The tradesman cannot make their first sale, the farmer is a victim, the national will is in prison, and students are in prison. There are dozens of problems in the country waiting to be solved, and millions of citizens who are victims of these problems. But the government's priority agenda is to make a new constitution. Statements are being made one after another, commissions are being established, and work schedules are being determined at jet speed. Believe me; if the effort spent to change the Constitution in this process had been shown for the Minimum Wage Determination Commission meetings, the minimum wage earner would have much better economic conditions today. If there had been such determination to increase retiree pensions, solve the housing problem of students, or expand freedoms, all of them would have been solved. If the heavy consequences of deviating from the rule of law and bringing the judiciary under the control of politics had been realized, and if the real intention had been to serve the country, it would have been known that sending Ekrem İmamoğlu to the Silivri dungeon was not a solution.

"CAN A COUNTRY BE GOVERNED WITH A MENTALITY THAT SHOWS THE ARBITRARINESS OF NOT COMPLYING WITH THE CONSTITUTION?"

At the point we have reached today, it is not difficult at all to see that the government's preferences for governing the country are shaped around the goal of protecting Mr. Erdoğan's seat. For this reason, one of the agendas that has been kept hot throughout the AKP's 23-year history of power has always been 'constitutional amendment.' In its public statements regarding the new Constitution, the government promised regulations that would be considered 'acceptable' by all segments of society. While doing so, it did everything it could to create the perception that anyone who objects is an 'enemy.' The government's true intention was never to expand freedoms or democratic rights. Nor did they have any real concern for creating a 'civil' constitution. Indeed, a Constitution that only has the word 'new' written on it, but is written with a putschist mentality, is certainly not being made for 86 million people. We have stated this many times. Let us say it once more; constitutions are texts of common consensus of nations. All citizens, public institutions, and organizations, and real and legal persons must comply with them. There is no exception. It is at the top of the hierarchy of norms. The Constitution is such a text that all other legal texts are created in accordance with it. Can a country be governed with a mentality that shows the arbitrariness of not complying with the Constitution? With what right and authority do AKP administrators see themselves as superior to other citizens and not comply with the Constitution and Constitutional Court decisions? Can a civil Constitution be made with this government that looks down on people, bends and twists laws according to itself, and has gone out of the supervision of the law and applies its own law? The AKP government must first abandon the unlawful attitudes it has displayed so far.

"ERDOĞAN MUST SHOW HIS SINCERITY TO THE CHP"

Erdoğan, who says, 'We do not want the new constitution for ourselves, but for our country. I have no concern about being re-elected or being a candidate again,' must first show his sincerity to the 86 million, and then to the Republican People's Party, with whom they want to sit at the same table. The way to do this is primarily through complying with the current constitution. It passes through fundamental rights and freedoms being under constitutional guarantee. It passes through the future President, Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu, regaining his freedom. It passes through Mr. Ümit Özdağ regaining his freedom. It passes through Can Atalay, Osman Kavala, Selahattin Demirtaş, and every single person imprisoned for political, not legal, reasons regaining their freedom. In short, it passes through the reconstruction of the legal order in our country. First of all, we must see a government in front of us that complies with the current constitution and respects fundamental rights and freedoms. We must see it so that we can be convinced that their concern is not to make Erdoğan a candidate again. Otherwise, it is not possible for us to meet at the point of making a new Constitution with those who do not comply with the current Constitution. Because we, with a great responsibility we feel towards our 86 million citizens, first look at the intention and then seek sincerity."

İZMİR STRIKE: "OUR WISH IS FOR THE UNION AND OUR MUNICIPALITY TO MEET AT A COMMON POINT"

Following the press statement, Yücel answered journalists' questions. When asked about the strike started by municipal workers in İzmir and the accusation of being a 'strike breaker' due to the collection of accumulated garbage under the leadership of İzmir Metropolitan Mayor Cemil Tugay, Yücel gave the following response:

"The right to strike is a constitutional right. We respect our worker and laborer brothers and sisters using their constitutional rights. The cost of living is a reality of AKP Turkey. We respect the struggle for rights that our worker and laborer brothers and sisters give in such a cost of living and such negative economic environments. However, the sanctions brought to municipalities by the central government, especially immediately after the March 31 local elections, and the deductions made from the revenues of the municipalities, especially from the Iller Bank revenues, are also a reality of this country. Approximately 6 billion liras have been deducted from the Iller Bank revenues of the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality in the last 4 months. Therefore, the municipality's budget and means are clear, and the wage it can pay under these conditions is also clear. Our wish is for the union and our İzmir Metropolitan Municipality to meet at a common point and reach a consensus.

The union's definition of 'strike breaker' regarding the mayor is not correct. What constitutes strike breaking is defined in the Trade Unions and Collective Labor Agreement Law No. 6353. There is no legal obstacle for our mayor, our environmentally conscious citizens, and our district mayors to collect the accumulated garbage that poses a risk due to environmental health. There is a ban on new workers, but there is no such ban for our mayor and other workers regarding collecting garbage.

Mayor Cemil has acted here as a responsible mayor should act. The fact that he collected the accumulated garbage last night together with our environmentally conscious citizens, tradesmen, and district mayors is also a job that an environmentally conscious mayor would do. To repeat, our wish is for the union and the Metropolitan Municipality to meet at a common point as soon as possible, and for a consensus to be reached by giving the laborer their due as much as possible without crushing or depriving our worker and laborer brothers and sisters, as far as conditions and means allow, but also taking into account the municipality's means and conditions."