CHP Spokesperson Yücel on Bayrampaşa Municipality election and İmamoğlu statements: 'They have seized our municipality'

CHP Spokesperson Deniz Yücel said, "Neither a spy comes out of Mayor Ekrem nor from the CHP. You cannot discredit Ekrem İmamoğlu, whom you cannot fit into any crime, any slander, or any indictment, in the eyes of 86 million by accusing him of treason and espionage. These baseless allegations will only make Ekrem İmamoğlu and the CHP even greater. Your effort to wear down and discredit the CHP, the party of liberation and foundation, and our presidential candidate Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu with these ugly slanders will result in a big zero for you. We are right, we are strong, and we will not back down from the struggle."

The CHP Central Executive Board (MYK) met online under the chairmanship of Chairman Özgür Özel. CHP Party Spokesperson and İzmir Deputy Deniz Yücel held a press conference at the Chairman's Working Office in Istanbul following the MYK meeting regarding the meeting's agenda. Highlights from Yücel's statements are as follows:

"Our October 29 Republic Day, which we will celebrate with great enthusiasm everywhere in the country two days from now, carries a very great meaning in the current conditions by reminding us of what a determined nation that believes in the struggle can achieve. We all remember how a nation overcame all impossibilities a century ago when it came to its independence and freedom in order to own its future. We know that no power can stand in the way of the struggle a nation gives for its own future. We know that the revolutionary understanding at the foundation of the Republic was not unique to that period, and that this nation can fulfill what is necessary when the time and place come to own its future, to develop its vision for the future by protecting the gains of the Republic, and to reveal its own free will in the face of all kinds of oppression, persecution, and intimidation attempts. In the 21st century, the nation is in the squares to own its will in this country. As the CHP, we have been in the squares with our people for the last year, regardless of winter or summer, against this government. We are with our people. We are in the squares for democracy, for justice, for freedom.

"THE TURKISH NATION WILL GIVE THE NECESSARY ANSWER"

A tyrannical government that does not recognize the will of the people wants to destroy the first party of this country. Because there is a government that is afraid of the rise of the CHP, the increase in the trust our people have in our party, and the love for our presidential candidate Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu, which is constantly growing day by day. They have always been defeated by Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu at the ballot box until now. They called İmamoğlu a 'thief', no one believed it. They slandered him saying 'He committed corruption', but they could not find evidence because it did not exist. As always, they did not understand the spirit of resistance of the CHP. They said, 'They will give up one day anyway,' but as they thought and said this, the squares became more crowded every day. 15 million went to the ballot box, 24 million signed, and the love for İmamoğlu grew even more. Now they think they will block the path of Mr. İmamoğlu and the CHP with a nonsensical accusation like espionage. They are challenging the nation. The Turkish nation will again give the necessary answer.

"MAYOR EKREM GIVES INSTRUCTIONS FOR BACKUP SO THAT CORRUPTION DATA IS NOT DESTROYED"

Mayor Ekrem won the Istanbul elections in 2019 on March 31. He won by a margin of 13 thousand votes, they canceled it. They said, 'If nothing happened, something definitely happened,' and they canceled it. Then, on June 23, he won the election again this time with a margin of over 800 thousand votes. Now they say, 'You manipulated the election.' They called him a 'thief', it didn't work. They called him 'corrupt', it didn't work. They tried to associate him with terrorism, they could not convince the public. Now they have come out and say 'spy'. The IMM data was not copied, it was not transferred to anyone. Even the people whose statements are in the file do not have such a claim. When Mayor Ekrem won the IMM Presidency, just as he asked 'What's for lunch today' when he came to the IMM after receiving his mandate and starting his duty, and when they told him that different meals were served for employees and managers, he said, 'No, high-level managers will also eat the same meal as the employees,' he gives an instruction in response to every allegation of corruption in the IMM and asks for the data to be backed up. Why? So that evidence is not obscured, so that corruption evidence is not destroyed. He does not say, 'Make a copy of this, give it to me or deliver it to a person you have assigned.' He says, 'Back these up securely.' Afterwards, of course, the AKP government experiences a panic and files criminal complaints and opens lawsuits to stop this.

"THE DATA COPYING ALLEGATION IS REFUTED BY THE DOCUMENT SIGNED BY SOYLU"

Here is a document signed by the then Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, there is a decision regarding the non-issuance of an investigation permit by the ministry due to the investigation initiated by the Ministry of Interior. It says, '...following the public reaction against the authorization of inspectors for the IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlu to conduct all kinds of examinations and research in the electronic database and infrastructure of the metropolitan municipality and its affiliates and to copy the database and infrastructure, the criminal complaint made by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the lawsuit filed before the administrative court, and the investigation conducted by the Ministry of Interior, taking a step back...' Here, of course, the phrase 'taking a step back' has been squeezed in here, but I continue: 'It states that the aforementioned transaction was repealed with all its consequences as of the date it was created, and that no database and infrastructure was copied and no inspection was conducted within the scope of the order given.' As a result, a decision is made regarding 'not granting an investigation permit for IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlu, which is also documented by the court decision.' In other words, this data copying allegation is completely refuted by the document written by the then Minister of Interior with his own signature.

"IF SOMEONE IS TO BE ACCUSED OF ESPIONAGE, ERDOĞAN AND AKP OFFICIALS SHOULD BE TRIED FIRST"

If someone is to be accused of espionage in this country, if someone is to be tried for espionage, first of all, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and AKP officials must be tried first because they turned a blind eye to the FETÖ-PDY terrorist organization, which is known to have links with American intelligence, the CIA, and because they turned a blind eye to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), the Ministry of Interior, the police, and the ministries. They need to be tried because they did not prevent them from entering the 'cosmic room'. They called the then Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ a 'terrorist organization leader' in this country. They called Lieutenant General Engin Alan a 'coup plotter'. They accused Kuddusi Okkır of being the treasurer of Ergenekon. They accused Ali Tatar of being an assassin. They were all acquitted, they were all cleared.

All the conspiracies and all the conspiracy cases established against them collapsed one by one. In the cases known as the military espionage cases in Istanbul and İzmir, they tried to smear the honorable, dignified, and patriotic officers of the TSK. They kidnapped Turkey's best and most successful F-16 pilots, and those conspiracy cases also collapsed one by one. They could not keep Osman Kavala inside through normal means. On the very day he was to be released, they brought an espionage allegation. They cannot trust the corruption allegations regarding Mayor Ekrem either. They are afraid of him being tried without arrest and being released when the hearings begin. That's why they invented this espionage nonsense.

"HOW CAN STARMER MEET WITH ERDOĞAN WHILE THERE IS AN ESPIONAGE ALLEGATION LINKED TO THE UK"

Today, British Prime Minister Starmer is visiting Turkey. President Erdoğan will receive him at Beştepe. It is expected that the supply agreement for 40 EuroFighter jets will be discussed. One day before this, an espionage allegation linked to the UK is put forward. I suppose we don't need to be an international relations expert or a foreign policy expert to know how espionage and spy activities negatively affect relations between two countries. In that case, how can the British Prime Minister be in Turkey when such an allegation has been made? How can he meet with President Erdoğan? This means that this espionage allegation is hollow, baseless, and unfounded. It is being done entirely with the effort to create an agenda aimed at designing domestic politics and discrediting the CHP, Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu, and the opposition.

The 'absolute nullity' lawsuit filed against our party, which has occupied the agenda and the public for about a year, was rejected last week. Of course, some did not find what they hoped for in that case. Especially the government wing needed a new morale, a new argument, a new toy to direct domestic politics and occupy the agenda. Two days after that case was rejected, they threw this mind-boggling allegation at Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu and other suspects. They called him a 'thief', it didn't work. They called him 'corrupt', it didn't stick. They tried to associate him with terrorism, no evidence was found. No matter how much they slandered, no matter how much injustice and lawlessness they committed, none of it was enough to erase Mayor Ekrem from the hearts of the people. The possibility of Mayor Ekrem, who is cleared one by one of the crimes attributed to him and will be cleared, regaining his freedom and being released scares some people so much that now they are trying to make up these nonsense, these baseless allegations.

A person should have some intelligence and common sense. You are the ones who could not protect and stole all the health data and identity information of this country during Covid. You are the ones who became the government by registering fake voters in households while voter information was spilled out in every election period in the last 23 years. You are the ones in power while many people were given fake diplomas by copying the electronic signatures of high-level public institution managers. You are the ones who could not prevent the theft of the TR ID number of the citizen on the street, let alone the President's TR ID number, but Ekrem İmamoğlu is a spy, is that so?

"YOU CANNOT DISCREDIT İMAMOĞLU IN THE EYES OF 86 MILLION"

Neither a spy comes out of Mayor Ekrem nor from the CHP. You cannot discredit Ekrem İmamoğlu, whom you cannot fit into any crime, any slander, or any indictment, in the eyes of 86 million by accusing him of treason and espionage. These baseless allegations will only make Ekrem İmamoğlu and the CHP even greater. Your effort to wear down and discredit the CHP, the party of liberation and foundation, and our presidential candidate Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu with these ugly slanders will result in a big zero for you. We are right, we are strong, and we will not back down from the struggle. The hundreds of thousands of our citizens who filled that square in Eskişehir yesterday gave a shoulder and strength to this unjust accusation and our rightful struggle.

"WE WILL APPLY TO THE HSK REGARDING AKIN GÜRLEK"

Yesterday, even before this arrest decision was made, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued a press release, making a statement. It says, 'It is stated that the suspects Ekrem İmamoğlu, Merdan Yanardağ, and Necati Özkan were decided to be arrested for the crime of political espionage on the grounds that, in summary, organization leader Ekrem İmamoğlu, within the scope of the espionage activities of the İmamoğlu profit-oriented criminal organization aimed at seizing the CHP through illegal methods to create a fund for the Presidential candidacy and committing financial crimes for this purpose, carried out activities with the instructions and guidance of the elements of these units, including the transfer of personal data of our citizens, especially in Istanbul, to foreign country intelligence units.' Even before the arrest decision was announced, one cannot use an expression like 'Ekrem İmamoğlu criminal organization', neither the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office nor the prosecutor's office can use it.

If there is an allegation against a person, one cannot use these expressions about a person whose indictment has not been prepared, who has not appeared before the court, judge, or panel authorized to conduct the prosecution, whose defense has not even been taken, against whom a conviction decision has not been made, and which has not been finalized. We are preparing a new application regarding the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor and the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, regarding Akın Gürlek. Our responsible friends, our lawyer friends are making the necessary preparations. We will also make this application before the HSK in the coming days.

While all this is happening, of course, they do not neglect to intimidate the opposition media. An espionage investigation was launched against TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ, just like Mayor Ekrem, and he was arrested.

Following the investigation, a trustee was appointed to TELE1 at jet speed. Those who try to put pressure on, frighten, and intimidate the opposition press through TELE1 by associating it with the espionage accusation will not reach their goal either. Just as they have not been able to silence the brave pens and press organizations that serve the public's right to receive news, despite all kinds of threats and hundreds of investigations they have undergone for years, they will not be able to silence them from now on. If they think they can prevent the public's access to accurate news by seizing the channel's cameras, recording devices, live broadcast vehicles, and closing its YouTube account, they are mistaken. Which truth have they been able to prevent or hide by closing a channel until today? With which trustee have they been able to hide the facts until today?

What could they stop with the penguin documentaries they broadcast during the Gezi Park protests? And we are frankly curious about what they will be able to stop with the documentaries they broadcast by preventing TELE1's broadcast. TELE1 is the people's channel. Since the day it was founded, it has done nothing but deliver accurate news to the public and engage in journalistic activities. Appointing a trustee while the main news bulletin is continuing and asking for the broadcast to be terminated is a product of the coup-plotting mentality. Appointing a trustee to TELE1 while Merdan Yanardağ's statement has not even been taken is an unlawful attitude that is exactly worthy of the AKP's coup-plotting mentality. Moreover, in accordance with Article 133 of the Criminal Procedure Code, for a trustee to be appointed to a company, a direct link must be established between the company's activities and the alleged crime. It is not possible for the accusation directed at the channel owner to be the sole justification for appointing a trustee to the channel. Such an application is equivalent to violating the rules of law and acting against the Constitution.

We stand with the employees of TELE1 and press freedom against the AKP government, which deprives hundreds of press workers who earn their bread by working at TELE1 of their bread. Journalism is not a crime. Journalists are not criminals either. They are not spies at all.

"THEY HAVE SEIZED OUR BAYRAMPAŞA MUNICIPALITY"

Another lawlessness in every corner of the country. The AKP government, which resorted to a legal coup due to the indigestion of March 31, has practically persecuted our CHP municipalities until today and continues to persecute them. What wasn't done... They went the way of transferring less budget to the municipalities. They issued a circular regarding the closure or non-opening of nurseries. They tried to dry up the resources of our municipalities, restrict the revenues of municipal companies, and collect the debts remaining from the past period from CHP municipalities. They loaded the debts of most of the municipalities to the SGK, which had accumulated during the AKP period, onto the CHP municipalities again after the March 31, 2024 local elections. They usurped the freedoms of our mayors with slanderous indictments and held the will of the people captive. One of them is our Bayrampaşa Municipality. In the March 31 local elections, the CHP won the Bayrampaşa Municipality with a rate of 46.6 percent with the will of the people of Bayrampaşa reflected in the ballot box.

The AKP, which could not digest the March 31 local elections, ignored the national will and usurped the freedom of our Bayrampaşa Mayor Hasan Mutlu. After Hasan Mutlu was removed from office, an election was held in Bayrampaşa Municipality. In the deputy mayor election held, our candidate İbrahim Kahraman came to office by drawing lots due to a tie. However, the AKP, which does not respect the will of the people and the ballot box, did not respect the result of the draw and objected to the result. The CHP also objected, but the objection accepted by the guided judiciary was the AKP's objection. And with the stay of execution decision given, it was decided to start the election process again in Bayrampaşa. The deputy mayor election in Bayrampaşa Municipality was held for the second time yesterday.

In the first round of the elections held, they could not digest the fact that two votes were invalid because the AKP candidate's name was written incorrectly, and the AKP, which does not recognize the local election results by distancing itself from the culture of democracy and doing what they do best by causing a brawl, seized our Bayrampaşa Municipality by doing all kinds of lawlessness with the suspicious resignations of municipal council members, election cancellation, fighting, pressure, and violence. They seized the result they could not get at the ballot box yesterday in some way with this seizure operation. What happened in Bayrampaşa has nothing to do with democracy. What happened in Bayrampaşa is the usurpation of the people's will. The AKP's understanding of not recognizing the ballot box, not knowing elections, or not accepting the results of the elections they lost has now become nauseating. With this attitude, the AKP has once again proven that by ignoring the will of the people, they do not recognize the people and see themselves as superior to the people. Despite all these lawlessnesses, we will not move even a millimeter away from the ballot box, national will, and democracy. The AKP will receive the answer it deserves when the ballot box comes again.

They called our clean congress 'suspicious'. We held two more extraordinary congresses. They tried to throw mud at them too. The mud they threw, every slander they voiced stuck to themselves. They occupied the media, the public, and Turkish politics for a year with their lies, slanders, and baseless allegations. This is over, now they think they will make people talk about new nonsense. But the nation's agenda, the nation's cry is clear. Their goal is to make our nation, the people forget the realities, the agendas of the people, and to occupy the public and society with other artificial issues. Their concern is that the nation's cry should not be heard; they want no one to talk about the closed factories, the unemployed workers, the high cost of living. They want the CHP's congresses, lawsuits to be talked about 24/7 in this country, CHP municipalities to be talked about, and Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu, whom they accuse without evidence, without proof, unjustly and unlawfully, to be talked about. But they don't want a single thing to be talked about. That is the fire in the kitchen and the rebellion on the street.

"EVERY BLOW THEY STRIKE AT THE LAW DESTROYS THE ECONOMY"

According to the AKP, the minimum wage, which is 22 thousand 104 liras, should not be talked about, the life struggle of our retired citizens trying to make a living with 16 thousand 881 liras should not be talked about, the salaries of the segment trying to make a living with the minimum wage and retired family in Turkey, which are below the hunger threshold of 28 thousand liras, and the salaries of civil servants, which are below the poverty threshold of 91 thousand liras, should not be talked about, the minimum wage of next year should not be talked about, they want whatever is talked about to be talked about.

They don't want it to be talked about that the citizen on the street has to allocate a large part of their income to food, they don't want it to be talked about that the total increase in food prices in the first 10 months of the year is 39.2 percent, they don't want it to be talked about that as of January 2025, 171 thousand 895 children in Turkey are at risk of being taken from their families because they cannot be cared for, they don't want it to be talked about that child poverty is increasing day by day, the dimensions of deep poverty, youth unemployment, hopelessness, unpaid rents, bills, accumulated debts, the helplessness of the people, and the bad course of the economy should not be talked about; they want whatever is talked about to be talked about. However, every blow they strike at the law destroys the economy. It happens to the low-income, the minimum wage earner, and the young people who have been looking for work for months, years. They are about to finish agriculture, textiles.

They even set their eyes on the state contribution to individual pension savings. Those who go to weddings can no longer say 'Let's pin a quarter gold' because they cannot buy it. Rents have become 25-30 thousand liras. Private schools have become 500 thousand liras. Everything from medicine to milk, from notebooks to gasoline is getting a price hike every day. People have lost their perception of price.

But they want indictments that contain no evidence; that contain vague expressions such as 'I heard', 'they said', 'that's what they say', and that have no claim to reality to be talked about. The fairy tales told by the ministers are being listened to. We are reading the statements of Yusuf Tekin and Vedat Işıkhan that play with the nerve endings of society. Yusuf Tekin continues to repeat the same rote memorization. They have only one wish: The economy should not be talked about. But we are determined to make the voices of the oppressed heard. The election is already approaching. The efforts to change the agenda out of fear of the ballot box will end at some point. The people who return from the market with an empty bag, from the grocery store with an empty bag, will send the bill for what is happening to the AKP when the time comes. No tyrant's oppression has lasted forever. Let no one think that we will surrender to these injustices, lawlessnesses, and oppression. The ballot box will come, our nation will give the necessary answer."