CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik: 'Turkey must get rid of dawn raids'

CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik, CHP Deputy Chair for Local Governments Gökhan Zeybek, and their delegation held a press conference at the Beşiktaş Municipal building.

Özgür Çelik took the floor first. Çelik stated the following:

"We woke up to a dawn raid. At 4:30 in the morning, they went to the Istanbul residence of our Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat. His mother was at home. He is currently traveling from Altınoluk to Istanbul. He was taken while he was with his father. Our legal commission is meticulously following the entire process. We are in constant contact with our Chairman Özgür Özel."

Stating that "The operations carried out are attempts to overshadow the reputation of our CHP mayors who practice social democratic municipalism," Çelik continued his words as follows:

"Our mayors, who would go to give a statement if summoned, are being detained with dawn raids. Turkey must get rid of these dawn raids. We will continue our struggle against these practices together with our citizens."

Following Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik, CHP Deputy Chair for Local Governments Gökhan Zeybek took the floor.

Stating that "All campaigns that the government has tried to carry out, starting with daycare centers 3 months ago and continuing with cultural events, concerts, and City Restaurants, have backfired," Zeybek spoke as follows:

"My CHP mayors, as if challenging the government's struggle regarding daycare centers, increased the number of daycare centers from 651 on November 30 to 689 on December 26. As of today, our number of daycare centers is over 700. Whatever CHP municipalities do, the government declares war on them."