CHP's Sarı to the NEW Party: The 39 mayors you appointed have defected to the AKP, perform some self-criticism

In the re-run of the deputy mayoral election in the Adalar district, the AKP's candidate Kemal Türkyılmaz was elected after three CHP members voted in favor of the AKP at the end of the fourth round. While discussions regarding this development continue, a press statement came from CHP spokesperson Müslim Sarı.

In his press statement at the party headquarters regarding the MYK agenda, Sarı addressed New Party Chairman Özgür Özel, stating, "Özel says, 'Just think, all of those mayors were determined during our administration.' In other words, he is saying, 'These are CHP members, but I appointed them; they are standing there reluctantly. Their souls and bodies are with us.' That is what he wants to say. Well, the 39 mayors you appointed have defected to the AKP. What will you say to this? Will you not perform some self-criticism? Are you not ashamed that 39 of them have defected to the AKP? What kind of arrogance, what kind of audacity is this!" Regarding the Adalar election won by the AKP, Sarı stated that they had cooperated by consulting with New Party Deputy Chairman Yaşar Tüzün, adding, "The Adalar Election Board requested a document from us, saying, 'Bring us written proof that the candidate in the third row is a party member, and that the substitute members in the first and second rows are not party members.' We mobilized all the party's structures and organizations to provide this document to the Election Board. We decided together that the election date should be Wednesday instead of Monday. What are we hiding from the public? What is this arrogance? Mr. Özgür Özel is either lying or he is unaware of what his own Deputy Chairman is doing. No one should deceive the public," he said.

Here are the highlights from Müslim Sarı's statements:

"When things came to light, the Capital Markets Board (SPK) finally deigned to issue a fine of 4 million 435 thousand liras to this fund after exactly 11 months. In other words, they said, 'You will earn 10 thousand percent profit, and you will realize these without obtaining permission from the authorized authorities.' After earning such huge amounts of income, the SPK says, 'I am fining you 4 million liras,' which is a drop in the bucket... We are facing clear institutional decay. This is a scandal, a process of corruption...

To Minister Şimşek: Are the allegations true?

Is there a political motivation or favoritism behind the public institutions that turned a blind eye to these funds reaching this point? We know that Mehmet Şimşek has known for a year, perhaps even longer, that there was manipulation here. I want to ask Şimşek from here; why did you not intervene even though you were aware and knew about it? Or were you unable to do so even though you wanted to? Who prevented you? There are some anecdotes that you called your friends and investors in London and said, 'We cannot intervene here. At least you intervene so that this issue comes to the agenda.' Are these true?

We, as the CHP, attach great importance to the will to stand together against the AKP, but unfortunately, I cannot say that we have seen the same care and approach from our friends who have been involved in politics in the CHP for a long time but have now set out on a journey in another political party. Look, the New Party's chairman Özgür Özel says: 'What cooperation, brother! There is no truth to what the spokesperson of the nullity says. We have no cooperation to make with nullity, with the unelected, with the appointed, with the palace apparatus, and we have had no such cooperation.'

"I do not want to believe that the Chairman is lying, but the facts are not like that"

I do not want to believe that the Chairman is lying, but I want to share with you that the facts are not like that. The CHP membership registration document... This document is this: It is the membership registration form of the municipal council member who resigned from the CHP and left, whom we made a member that day so that they would vote for the CHP candidate in the elections. Who asked for this, who did we talk to about this? With Yaşar Tüzün. We made this friend of ours a member, and this friend of ours has now become a metropolitan municipal council member. In other words, we have gained a member for the CHP's metropolitan municipal council. But the metropolitan municipal council member they chose resigned from Kartal two days ago. More precisely, this is a decision we took together, which we managed together.

"We decided on the election date together; what are we hiding from the public?"

So that our substitute candidate in the third row could come and vote - they are all CHP members - we wrote a letter to the Adalar District Election Board to ensure that this candidate could vote. Who did we organize this with? With Yaşar Tüzün. We said, 'Our candidates in the first and second rows are not party members. How will our candidate in the third row vote?' The Adalar Election Board requested a document from us, saying, 'Bring us written proof that the candidate in the third row is a party member, and that the substitute members in the first and second rows are not party members.' Look, we mobilized all the party's structures and organizations to provide this document to the Election Board. Now, no one should take offense. We decided together that the election date should be Wednesday instead of Monday. What are we hiding from the public? What is this arrogance? Mr. Özgür Özel is either lying - and I do not want to believe that he is lying - or he is unaware of what his own Deputy Chairman is doing. Then there is a major weakness. No one should deceive the public. The feeling of acting together is important; we will need this.

"Are you not ashamed that the mayors have defected to the AKP?"

Özel says one more thing in his statement. He says, 'Just think, all of those mayors were determined during our administration.' In other words, he is saying, 'These are CHP members, but I appointed them; they are standing there reluctantly. Their souls and bodies are with us.' That is what he wants to say. Well, the 39 mayors you appointed have defected to the AKP. What will you say to this? Will you not perform some self-criticism? Are you not ashamed that 39 of them have defected to the AKP? Are we just going to blame the 39 mayors and accept that they were threatened? What kind of arrogance, what kind of audacity is this! Everyone should do their part. We are going through a difficult process."