First statement from Erkan Baş regarding the Gökhan Zan crisis in TİP

TİP Chairman Erkan Baş, one of the parties involved, has made a statement regarding Gökhan Zan and the audio recordings that continue to occupy the political agenda with mutual statements from the parties involved.

Speaking to journalist Murat Sabuncu from T24, Baş stated that his deputy chairmen had met with Zan.

Baş relayed that Zan had told party members, "If I cannot win this election, I need to think about my own future."

Regarding whether this situation would affect the elections, Baş said, "For the Workers' Party of Turkey: Milk may have a stain, but we do not. Therefore, we are so clean and so transparent that even the smallest shadow becomes immediately visible, and the Workers' Party of Turkey punishes this itself."

The relevant part of Baş's interview is as follows:

As I understand it, your party's deputy chairmen must have spoken directly with Gökhan Zan when these allegations emerged.

Our Party Assembly members have already been in Hatay from the very beginning. Our friends shared with us the impressions they gained from the meetings they held. In the end, we shared the situation with our friends in a Party Assembly meeting with full transparency, and we concluded that this was the right thing to do.

"IF YOU TAKE A STAND, THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES"

- Let me ask again by repeating what you just said. Some say it is a "montage," but some say a meeting did take place, is that correct?

Of course, I am not very familiar with the technical details. This will emerge as a result of a forensic examination, but he claims it was done using an application they call "deep fake," yet in some conversations, he also says things to our friends like, "I need to think about my own future if I cannot win this election." First of all, the situation of not winning the election; for us, making a plan according to this is already unacceptable. 

Secondly, people can make certain sacrifices during a political struggle; one enters politics by daring to do so. If you are taking a stance, there are certain costs to this for all of us, and one must be prepared to face them. 

In other words, keeping a personal agenda on the side is not the right thing to do. Look, I will be very clear; here, in a period where every kind of intervention can be made by both sides—that is, by the AKP and the Lütfü Savaş front—there is only one thing you can do: You make your own decisions. You walk the path by sharing these transparently with the citizens. There is nothing else that can be done. In this dirty field of politics, one should not walk in secret.

- Your team was also uncomfortable with the emphasis on a personal agenda, beyond the allegations of recorded conversations.

"I need to think about what I will do in the future if I don't win the election." Here, "not winning" is also a problematic situation for us. Of course, there is no guarantee that we will win the election 100% everywhere, but planning according to this is not right. Because if we are entering an election, we do not enter to make someone else lose. We enter that election to win it ourselves.

"OUR HATAY MP IS IN PRISON"

- When Gökhan Zan was made a candidate, you emphasized "what he did for Hatay during the earthquake process, even if he didn't think like you." There were criticisms regarding his previous candidacy from the İYİ Party, or assessments by Bekir Ağırdır that you were engaging in "left-wing populism." It is impossible to return to yesterday, but do you think it would have been more correct to field a candidate from within TİP today, and are you making such a self-criticism?

Let me say this: I have no second thoughts about the issue of him being a TİP candidate. If we had nominated a party member, it would have meant something else. In this process, the Workers' Party of Turkey could have come up with ideas in its own name. That would have been thinking of ourselves. We set out not for ourselves, but with the claim of being the representative of the people of Hatay who helped each other on the streets after the destruction on February 6. I have said this several times, and perhaps for this very reason, perhaps because of our excessive sensitivity, we nominated someone who was not one of us. 

I think this choice is important in terms of showing our stance. Ultimately, the decision we made is also related to our stance. As I said, perhaps such relationships might be considered normal in other parties during the election process.

I am speaking for everyone; we oppose all approaches such as 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend, I am closer to this one, further from that one, therefore I can establish a relationship with this one, I cannot with that one, I can establish it like this with him, like that with her' due to our own understanding.

- So what will happen now in Hatay on behalf of the TİP? What will the TİP do?

We will do this: first of all, we are still very ambitious in Defne, Samandağ, Arsuz, and Antakya, and the struggle to win those places continues. Our municipality and our lists are strong lists there, and if the struggle in Hatay is to continue regardless of who wins the election, we must ensure that the Workers' Party of Turkey is represented by a strong group in the Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Council. So that we can keep the promise we made to the people of Hatay. 

Regardless of the election results, we will continue to fight against whoever is in power and work to win, especially for the Metropolitan Municipality Council memberships, so that the people who came together in Hatay on February 6, whether they vote for us or not, can get what they deserve.

On the other hand, we have an elected Hatay deputy. He is still in prison. The public forgets quickly due to the local election agenda, but we have not internalized the injustice and victimization we have suffered. We will not accept that either. We will continue the fight from there as well.

"MILK MAY HAVE A STAIN, BUT WE DO NOT"

- So, do you think what happened in Hatay has caused general damage to the Workers' Party of Turkey?

At first, it might not have been understood, and it cannot be understood. I can easily say this for the Workers' Party of Turkey: Milk can have a stain, but we do not. Therefore, we are so clean and so transparent that even the smallest shadow becomes immediately visible, and the Workers' Party of Turkey punishes it itself. I think this will be evaluated by citizens from the opposite perspective as the 'stance that should exist in politics'.

Perhaps not immediately today, but in the coming days, when the frenzy of social media and the rush to spread news quickly subside, and the dust settles, this stance of the Workers' Party of Turkey will go down as an exemplary stance for Turkish politics.

And our claim that there will not be the slightest theft, corruption, or nepotism in the municipalities we win has been proven once again. We are a party that will never turn a blind eye to any wrongdoing.