Erdoğan's first comment on Özgür Özel's candidacy

President Erdoğan answered questions from journalists at the Turkish House in the US, where he traveled for the UN Summit.

"DO NOT INVOLVE ME IN THIS STRUGGLE OR THIS CONFLICT"

Erdoğan gave the following response to the question, "In recent days, CHP Group Chairman Özgür Özel announced his candidacy for the CHP chairmanship. As discussions continue over whether there will be a change in the CHP chairmanship, what are your assessments?";

"Do not involve me in this struggle or this conflict. I am focused on my own work. They should focus on their own work among themselves. Because I do not concern myself with who wins or who loses."

"WE WILL SIT DOWN AND TALK WITH DEVLET BEY"

Responding to a question about who the People's Alliance candidates for Istanbul and Ankara will be, President Erdoğan said, "The People's Alliance has no issues at this point. We will sit down and talk about this with Devlet Bey, primarily for Istanbul and Ankara, across all 81 provinces. We will hold our consultations on where to nominate whom, and hopefully, we will determine the names for the metropolitan cities and others accordingly, in a auspicious manner."

Erdoğan continued his remarks as follows;

"WE WILL DETERMINE OUR CANDIDATES IN SOLIDARITY WITHOUT FIGHTING OR NOISE"

"There is no such thing as these being determined within just one month. However, we will identify who can be the 'battering ram' in these metropolitan cities. Who can be in other provinces outside of these? We will determine these and, in a way that ensures success, we will determine our candidates together in solidarity, without any fighting or noise."