Ekrem İmamoğlu's first comment on Kılıçdaroğlu's 'I was stabbed in the back' remark

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu made statements regarding the agenda on the program 'Az Önce Konuştum' (I Just Spoke) with Candaş Tolga Işık.

Highlights from IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu's statements:

EVALUATED THE ELECTION RESULTS WHERE CHP EMERGED AS THE LEADING PARTY

My source is the citizens. I have been observing the citizens for a long time. I have never experienced such positive facial expressions from voters in my life. This was very honorable. I didn't share this with anyone for a while. It was the most positive field experience, including 2019 and 2023. First, people have accepted it and will cast their votes; second, they are showing us favor in terms of service. Third, those who won't vote for us still respect us. These three feelings are magnificent. I did not encounter a harsh attitude in this election. We were at the markets, we were in the field. We didn't just tour rallies; we met with citizens. These were random areas, and we preferred that naturalness. There is a ballot box protest by the voter; despite supporting us, there is a preference not to go to the polls. We sensed this. We entered the election with such an atmosphere.

"WE LOST 3-4 DISTRICTS BY A NARROW MARGIN"

I was feeling that vote gap. When I described it to my friends as 14+14, all of our colleagues at the table were saying, 'Okay, Mayor, 20 is good,' and so on. I was expecting 14+14. We lost 3-4 districts by a narrow margin. We lost Arnavutköy, Fatih, Ümraniye, and Pendik by a narrow margin. We came in first in the IMM vote in 32-33 districts. It placed a responsibility on me; my responsibility has increased a thousandfold. We will continue to produce work regardless of party affiliation.

"THIS CITY WILL WIN"

I say this to the AK Party mayors: 'I hope you provide your district with the most successful 5 years it has ever had.' Let every mayor have their most successful 5 years. This city will win. The IMM will also benefit from this. If I am supporting my fellow traveler to be a rival, I am supporting them so that they can provide better service to the public.

"WE MADE MISTAKES IN THE 2023 ELECTION"

Everything is a factor. The economy is also a factor. There is a 10-month difference between the 2023 and 2024 elections. There was a worse economy in 2023. Having experienced the earthquake, morale and motivation were at zero. If the economy alone were enough, we could have won that day too, but we made mistakes that day.

"WE CREATED THE GROUNDWORK"

We won by building the right things towards 2024. The hero of the 2024 election is the nation, it is the conscience of the nation. In 2024, we created the groundwork for people to vote for us. We carried out the change. We created the groundwork, and the citizens voted for us. The hero of the election is the citizen. A portion of the voters who could have voted for us in the 2024 election did not go to the polls. The vote we received could have been a little higher.

"WE WERE GOING TO CHANGE A SYSTEM"

There are different issues in 2023. The Six-Party Table strategy evolved in another direction after a while. We were going to change a system. While we had revealed that the current system belonging to Turkey was leading us in the wrong direction, suddenly an atmosphere formed as if everyone at the table wanted a certain position... The form of the campaign, etc. There are many details. We couldn't talk about these issues much. I wish we could have. What with the party congress process, candidacies, and so on, we rushed into the election.

"WE COULD NOT ANALYZE IT WELL"

(Regarding the tweet he posted on May 29, 2023, 'The only thing that doesn't change is change itself.') This is not just a slogan; I also had a speech under it. We lost the election, our morale is very low. We all put in a lot of effort. Whether it's Özgür Özel or many of our friends, they put in a lot of effort. I held rallies in 101 locations. I visited 101 locations. We fought tooth and nail. In the final part of the process we brought about, we couldn't get organized, we couldn't create good campaigns. In the end, we lost. There is no culprit for this; we all lost.

SPOKE ABOUT THE 'CALL FOR CHANGE' VIDEO

As a person who saw that doing the same things after May 28 would not gain us anything, I shared my feelings with that message and video that day. I published the video that morning without sleeping at all that night. The next day, I was going to address the people of Istanbul on the anniversary of the Conquest of Istanbul. What was I going to say to the people that evening? The spirit within me said change, and I explained this. By saying that if we light this light of change, the nation can trust us, I expressed my feelings in a few sentences. I expressed my feelings without mentioning a person or a party.

"I DON'T THINK HE IS RESENTFUL"

Upon Işık's question, "Kemal Bey doesn't say it, but it is very clearly understood that he is resentful towards you; why is Kemal Bey resentful towards you?" İmamoğlu said, "I don't think he is resentful towards me; we couldn't meet, but I persistently called him, and I didn't tell anyone about this until now; I am saying it openly for the first time. He answered when I persistently called him during the last holiday. I hadn't been able to reach him a few times. It finally rang and he answered. I congratulated him on the holiday, and he congratulated me on my election result. I called after the party congress, I couldn't reach him. He might be resentful, maybe he didn't want to look at the phone. I don't think he is resentful. If he says 'I am resentful,' I would ask why you are resentful."

FIRST COMMENT ON THE 'STABBED IN THE BACK' EXPRESSION

To Işık's question, "Kemal Bey constantly says he was stabbed in the back; do you have a feeling that he is saying this to you?" İmamoğlu replied, "It is not a description I would take as addressed to me; I have never been such a person in my life."

Ekrem İmamoğlu's first comment on Kılıçdaroğlu's 'I was stabbed in the back' remarkhttps://t.co/g6e5mgXJtp pic.twitter.com/gTBSDNvE8Q

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IS THERE A RIVALRY BETWEEN YOU AND MANSUR YAVAŞ?

Upon Işık's question, "Is there a rivalry between you and Mansur Yavaş?" İmamoğlu said, "How could there not be? It has been there since the first day, but ours is a rivalry of service. The rivalry between us can only be a rivalry of service. We have a service rivalry with Mr. Yavaş. It is a rivalry over how we can provide better service. It's not that I have a formula in my pocket and I don't want to show it; we work together. We will hopefully strengthen our negotiation tables even more. We will conduct and strengthen our negotiation tables with our 11 metropolitan mayors. We have held 40 meetings with the mayors. There is no conflict between us; there is a rivalry of service. There is friendship and conversation between us. Where the issue of the country is discussed, there is negotiation, not fighting; there is consensus, not conflict. Neither of us has such a thing in our nature. I called and spoke to him 2 days ago. A very valuable department head had passed away, I offered my condolences. When I go to Ankara, I definitely stop by; if I can't stop by, I call. Our relationship with our other mayors is also very good."

"STEPS REGARDING CHANGE WERE ALSO TAKEN DURING THE KILIÇDAROĞLU PERIOD"

Steps regarding change were also taken during the Kılıçdaroğlu period. There were moments when this brought benefits, there were gains we achieved; 2019 was one of them. When we came to 2023, there was a demand in society for the beginning of another change process. All of them had stages within themselves that prepared for the next period.

"ISTANBULITES SAW OUR WORK"

We read from reports that society wanted a change. A more young generation, a female understanding of politics is desired. A more scientific, technical understanding was desired. An 'I know best' understanding was not desired. They wanted an understanding that would prepare a more transparent ground open to the public. The nation did not vote just because we held a party congress. What did we say after the congress, how did we prepare for the election? Society saw these. Istanbulites saw our work regarding Istanbul. We experienced difficult economic conditions, a 1.5-year pandemic process. There were many difficulties. We provided many social support services such as 'suspended bills' (askıda fatura), city restaurants, and baby sets. These led us to success.

"IT IS NOT THE TIME TO TALK ABOUT THAT"

Upon Işık's question, "I said to Mr. Özgür Çelik, 'Are you talking with the Mayor about Ekrem Bey being the CHP candidate in the next Presidential election?' He said, 'Even if we talked, I couldn't say it here.' Do you ever talk about such things between you?" İmamoğlu said, "I don't remember ever talking about this issue in detail with Mayor Özgür Çelik. We talk about every issue with Mayor Özgür Çelik as well. He is a close fellow traveler. He is very disciplined, passionate about his work, one of the strong actors of the new generation of politics. Anyway, when such an issue is brought up, I close it. It is not the time to talk about that."

EVALUATED THE 'CHP CO-CHAIRMAN' COMMENTS

Upon Işık's question, "It was said that Ekrem İmamoğlu actually manages the CHP. Are you angry at these co-chairmanship discourses?" İmamoğlu stated, "You can't say I'm angry; we laugh because we don't take it personally. Our Chairman is our Chairman. I value institutionalism more than anything in life; this starts with institutionalism in the family and continues with work. We are a somewhat large family; that institutionalism has a very different place for us; everyone has their place, you respect that. I have been partners with my father for 35 years."

"WE SEE THE RIGHT STEPS FROM MR. MEHMET ŞİMŞEK"

I see the economic situation of the country as bad; may God help us. The most striking line of this is the retirees. We can see the difficult situation of people. We see the effort to describe a journey with right steps, good measures, and credibility from Mr. Mehmet Şimşek. Of course, this is not a situation to be graded in a few months. We need to go through a process. The determination must be applied correctly. Turkey has a dynamic structure. I wish from my heart that Mehmet Şimşek does the right things in the economic sense. Let economic traumas decrease.

WHY WAS THERE A HIKE IN WATER PRICES?

Upon Işık's question, "Messages are coming that there is a big hike in tap water. Mr. Erdoğan Aktaş sent a message saying, 'There was such a hike in tap water that it exceeded the electricity price; what does the Mayor say about the water hike?'" İmamoğlu replied with the words, "İSKİ is an institution that has made the highest level of investments in Turkey in 5 years. At one point, we had to provide service with tariffs where electricity bills dropped to half price, and we struggled with processes reaching annual budget deficits of 8-9 billion because the market changes, costs increase, but the parliamentary majority says no to the water hike. We provided service amidst the difficulty of all these processes. The law says, 'You cannot sell water below the cost of water,' İSKİ says. 'You cannot make the institution lose money,' it says. İSKİ has now reached a balanced budget."

EQUAL AND ATTENTIVE

Parliamentary majority does not give us arrogance, it does not distance us from transparency, it distances us from democracy; on the contrary, when I hosted 39 district mayors, I said it where the AK Party mayors were present. Now I am visiting 39 districts one by one. I do not do to others the evil done to me. When I was a district mayor, the metropolitan municipality did not knock on our door; I did not see its bureaucrat or secretary general. We will treat our 39 districts equally and attentively. I am telling all my administrative colleagues. We will conduct our attitudes and behaviors in the parliament in a balanced way. When the administration brings a parliamentary decision, my party's commission will discuss it, then we will take it to the opposition and discuss it. It doesn't mean we will agree on every issue, but can something regarding Istanbul be done secretly? At the end of the day, we cannot do the same. Whose property are you withholding from whom? The issue is that simple. We shouldn't turn it into an equation with many unknowns. A struggle conducted through negotiation yields better results.

HOW DOES HE VIEW THE NORMALIZATION PROCESS?

We must normalize, we must be able to talk to each other, we must negotiate. A struggle conducted in a respectful manner through negotiation yields better results. I have already answered before; I wholeheartedly support our Chairman's negotiation, but let me say this, we will be cautious.

"WE ARE WALKING TOWARDS THE 2036 OLYMPICS"

If you asked me, "What moves you, what raises your passion for sports to the highest peak?" it would be to see the Olympics in Istanbul. We had already said this in our 2019 campaign. After coming, we started this process slowly. We revealed our declaration of intent. We shared every step we took with the central administration. Sports is far above politics. We won very serious quotas in the Olympics. The 2027 Games will actually be a strict rehearsal for the Olympics we are bidding for in 2036. For this rehearsal, Istanbul will hold an organization with multiple sports branches for the first time. It is important in terms of showing our organizational power. We hosted the delegations in our city. We revealed the sports manifesto. There will be 20-25 branches. We are walking towards the 2036 Olympics.

"THEY SAID 'WE WILL BE PART OF THE STRUGGLE'"

Upon Işık's question, "The championship race has ended, all 3 clubs' center is Istanbul, you also have things to say." İmamoğlu said, "Actually, let me also say this: I visited at least twice on this Olympic journey. I told all 3 of our clubs that they are the 3 most important brands of this process and that we must wage this struggle together. They also firmly said, 'We will be part of this struggle'."

İMAMOĞLU'S EVALUATION ON THE TAXI PROBLEM

We are organizing workshops at the Istanbul Planning Agency. The President of the Chamber of Taxi Drivers, Taxi Associations, and many institutions and organizations came. The President of the Chamber of Taxi Drivers came for a courtesy visit. I said, 'Let's sit down and discuss this business together.' The taxi issue is on the front pages of our notebook. We sent it to the UKOME sub-commission for this issue to be discussed. The majority in the parliament does not mean the UKOME majority. We need to ensure both the number of taxis and the taxi order. There is a pirate taxi problem. I also defend the taxi driver's tariff. We didn't say, 'There is an election, let's not give a hike.' We hold 1 election a year; what will this man do? In that respect, we are defending both their rights and the rights of the citizens. In the first place is the right of 16 million people, in the second place is the tradesman brother of ours who steers the wheel in over 50 thousand taxis, then the taxi plate owner. We don't eat anyone's rights, but first is the issue of the rights of 16 million people.

"WE ARE LOOKING FOR HEALTH SERVICES OTHER THAN THE HPV VACCINE"

We are looking for other preventive health services like the HPV vaccine. Our other municipalities also have good work on this issue. We will carry this even higher. We are vaccinating according to applications. I told our friends, 'Let's be sufficient as much as we can.' Our work continues on other health issues as well. We are looking for health services other than the HPV vaccine. We will fulfill the responsibility that falls on us. We will do our best for the well-being of our nation. May our services continue in good days.