Striking remarks from Özgür Özel at CHP's Üsküdar rally: 'Be miserable'

Following the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the rallies initiated by the CHP to allow citizens to express their reactions continue. This evening, the CHP gathered with citizens in Üsküdar.

As in every rally, IMM Mayor İmamoğlu's letter was read first, followed immediately by striking statements from CHP Chairman Özel.

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel began his speech with the poem 'The Struggle for Freedom'.

Highlights from Özel's speech are as follows:

"Üsküdar is now the fortress of the nation. Together with Sinem Dedetaş, we won the vote of one in every two people in Üsküdar.

Mr. Tayyip does not love the poor; he loves the rich. He loves the 'gang of five,' he loves the plunderers. Those represented by Mr. Tayyip are neither minimum wage earners nor retirees... Mr. Tayyip has made this country the poorest in Europe. We have to deflate a balloon. They say our trouble is great, the economy is bad in Turkey, but it is like this all over the world. On the contrary, we are in the year where Mediterranean countries have had the best recovery. We are first in inflation among 38 OECD countries. Annual inflation is 2 percent in Europe, and 30 percent in Turkey. There are 13.5 million unemployed in Turkey.

Three out of every 4 people cannot even go to their hometowns. Shame on this dark order of the AK Party!

Erdoğan, who loves the rich, is facing bad news. The days you will be held accountable are near. The ballot box is near.

I am telling you the result of the first ballot box. The era of ministers' children will end, the era of the nation's children will begin!

We are coming to establish the people's government.

I want to express clearly here that they have gone after the few pennies in the people's pockets.

The union said it would not recognize this raise. We are calling out to all civil servants. Your struggle is our struggle. All the squares are yours, we are all behind you!

I am calling out to Erdoğan from here. Just as Bülent Ecevit stood by Yasser Arafat, so do we.

(To Hakan Fidan) He is supposedly preparing for the post-Erdoğan era by filming TikToks. You are not there after Erdoğan; the will of the nation is there!

This country has veteran prosecutors. They live in modest lodgings. You are having a 56 million lira renovation done for someone else.

They granted permission for an investigation into Mücahit Birinci. But they still haven't arrested him either. We declare this: All slanders cast against innocent people have collapsed. We will hold them accountable, we are waiting for the indictment.

We declare from here: AK Party's dark order, you will drown in your filth!

Mücahit and Nedim are cursing at each other. All the cliques within the AK Party are fighting with each other. Be miserable!

The only person who does not want peace to come to this country is Erdoğan. You can trust your prosecutors as much as you want, I trust the nation. If there were democracy, you would never be able to come out of the ballot box again. You don't want peace; if there were peace, you wouldn't be able to polarize this nation.

Erdoğan is tired, he has aged. He can neither give hope nor succeed.

He says he won't leave this seat. We will not let you sit there with 29 percent.

You are not in the field, you are not in the factory. You tell me to come and do Ankara-centered politics. I am doing Kırşehir, Tokat, Aksaray-centered politics! I am going to Konya, to Yozgat.

Knowing that we will be saved together, we are doing labor-centered politics. No matter what you do now, the CHP is Turkey's leading party. Ekrem İmamoğlu is far ahead. You will lose, you will be defeated, we will win!"

İMAMOĞLU'S LETTER WAS READ

CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik read the message from his party's imprisoned presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu:

“Hello Üsküdar, hello dear Istanbul! Beautiful people of beautiful Üsküdar, my precious fellow citizens, precious youth, very dear children; I embrace you all with longing. Greetings from Silivri to Üsküdar. Hello. Songs and folk tunes have been written for this beautiful district. Üsküdar has been the apple of the eye of the Bosphorus and Istanbul in every era. We have always given Üsküdar the value it deserves. Since 2019, whatever service we have brought to any district of Istanbul, we have reached Üsküdar as well, without any discrimination. We considered every citizen of this city a member of our family. We have carried out projects that will add value to the lives of all our citizens.”

“WE HAVE SOLVED ALL OF ÜSKÜDAR'S INFRASTRUCTURE PROBLEMS; THE SEA NO LONGER MEETS THE LAND”

“Üsküdar has met the Republican People's Party's populist and action-oriented municipalism approach. As the IMM, since 2019, we have brought kindergartens to our children in Üsküdar. We have solved all of Üsküdar's infrastructure problems. The sea no longer meets the land. Wastewater and filth are not flowing into the Bosphorus. Because of the government's economic policies, we opened our City Restaurant, which provides affordable and healthy nutrition opportunities to our citizens who work half-hungry and half-full, and to our youth who study half-hungry and half-full. They had said, 'It is not the municipality's job to find jobs for citizens.' We, however, considered it our duty and opened 2 branches of our Regional Employment Offices in Üsküdar, which provide job opportunities to over 240 thousand of our citizens. We provided financial support to our families, and we provided scholarship opportunities to our students and youth. We brought new sea lines to Üsküdar.”

“WHILE DOING ALL THIS, WE NEITHER VIOLATED ANYONE'S RIGHTS NOR DID WE LET ANY ILLICIT BREAD PASS THROUGH OUR THROATS”

“With the service zeal and diligence of our district mayors, we continue to do even more. While doing all this, we neither violated anyone's rights nor did we let any illicit bread pass through our throats. We did not set our eyes on the rights or sustenance of the children of this homeland. We did not squander the resources. That is why Istanbulites elected the Republican People's Party with a large margin of votes. That is why the people of Istanbul said, 'continue with the action-oriented and populist administration.' And not just in Istanbul; in Adana with Mayor Zeydan, in Antalya with Mayor Muhittin, in Manisa with the late Mayor Ferdi, in Ankara with Mayor Mansur, and all our other Republican People's Party mayors have entered the hearts of our nation with their actions. Our nation has started counting the days to see this action-oriented and populist approach in the country's administration as well.”

“VERY SOON THEY WILL ALSO LOSE THEIR SEATS AND POSITIONS”

“That is why, the moment the ballot box comes before them, the citizens will choose us. The ballot box will bring the nation's government, prosperity, peace, and happiness under the leadership of the Republican People's Party. It is not just us who know that this will be the case; the holders of power, who have exhausted their energy after 23 years, have no strength left to give to the nation, and have rotted and degenerated, also know it. They lost Üsküdar, they lost Istanbul. They lost municipalities they never expected to lose, which they said 'would never leave us.' Very soon they will also lose their seats and positions. As they lose, the children of this country will win. The youth, women, children, workers, retirees, and civil servants of this country will win. The nation's right will belong to the nation. Turkey will attain the justice, freedom, and abundance it has longed for for years. In the market, at school, at the hospital, at the police station, in court, on the street... Justice and freedom will prevail for everyone everywhere. Our nation will show once again that it is the sole owner of this country and state.”

“WE WILL RESIST AGAINST LIES, SLANDER, AND BLACKMAIL”

“To prevent their inevitable end, they have set their eyes on the nation's will once again. By taking the people's elected mayor, our Beyoğlu Mayor İnan Güney, they are trying to place a mortgage on the nation's will. They are throwing drivers, families, spouses, and children into prison without any evidence. It is not enough; with the IMM conspiracy exchange they have established, they are trying to produce non-existent evidence with false statements and blackmail, and they are tormenting our imprisoned friends and their families. Despite all this, they will not succeed. We will resist all together, just as we did yesterday and today. We will resist against lies, slander, and blackmail. We will resist against mafia-style politics. As the upright, righteous, honorable, and moral soldiers of this country, we will work hard and succeed in bringing justice and freedom to our homeland. Our motto is one, our path is one: For everyone. Everywhere. Justice first! Freedom first! Justice and freedom will prevail on every inch of this country's land. Those who ignore the nation's will will go, everything will be very beautiful. Everything will be very beautiful. Ekrem İmamoğlu. Silivri dungeon.”