İmamoğlu reveals the books he is reading in Silivri: 'The sections related to justice...'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor and CHP Presidential Candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was arrested and sent to Marmara Closed Prison in Silivri as part of the 'urban reconciliation' investigation launched against him, answered questions from Cumhuriyet columnist Mustafa Balbay. 

Having left 11 days behind in prison, İmamoğlu listed the books he is reading one by one. "We had a illustrated, documented Nutuk that we published as the İBB. I am reading that the most. I have reached the Sivas section and am moving toward Ankara," said İmamoğlu, adding, "We will talk about the emotions created by reading here later. But Mustafa Kemal’s belief in victory, his tremendous determination, and his diligence are beyond description." 

'I HAVE A PATHETIC OPPONENT'

İmamoğlu made the following statements: 

"- I have a partnership of fate and struggle with Özgür Özel that is rarely seen in our political history. In this context, my support for Özgür Özel at the extraordinary congress is absolute. We are carrying out a difficult struggle together.

- I have full faith that Özgür Özel will make an inclusive, unifying, and embracing start at the extraordinary congress and will form his management team in this direction. Without excluding anyone, we will give great hope to society by including all segments that bravely stand against this course of events. We will be shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, hand in hand. Our only desire and ideal is to offer our nation a world full of fair prosperity and to experience the honor of embarking on such a journey together.

- As a presidential candidate, I, and Özgür Özel as the CHP chairman, will overcome these difficult days with a solidarity and comradeship relationship unprecedented in the world; we will succeed. We will walk to victory together.

- In my mind, I am thinking more about what we will do after the extraordinary congress. We will make a historic start. We will establish presidential offices in Ankara and Istanbul. The center will be Ankara, but the work we have largely initiated in Istanbul will continue without slowing down. 

- We will defeat the rot in the justice system and this one-man mentality whose rules and institutions have disappeared. I have full faith in this. I hope no one looks at this success with doubt. Our strength comes from our belief in our righteousness and our goal. I swear we will succeed.

- My heart desired a fair race. But we are facing a pathetic mentality that resorts to every means to exclude its strongest opponent from the election, has not even passed by the edge of fairness, and does not hesitate to use the law as a tool for this purpose. I have a pathetic opponent.

 They can put me in prison, but what will they do about the millions of Ekrem's? They also put my fellow travelers in prison with me. Let them not forget this; I will not fit into a prison. These walls, you know, these walls are a detail to me. I have established a work routine here, I have settled it, so to speak. I will settle it even more.

- Young people have moved ahead of us and become our guides. Their courage has also spread to society. I love them very much. They are trying to use every method to establish a dialogue with me here as well. We will reach victory with the youth. Or rather, the victory will belong to the youth.

- We had a illustrated, documented Nutuk that we published as the İBB. I am reading that the most. I have reached the Sivas section and am moving toward Ankara. I get more filled with emotion on every page. We will talk about the emotions created by reading here later. But Mustafa Kemal’s belief in victory, his tremendous determination, and his diligence are beyond description. 

- I am also reading the Quran, taking notes especially on the sections related to justice. I had all of Nâzım Hikmet's poems brought in; that is also by my bedside. I am also reading a book about Hacı Bektaş Veli that has few pages but is tremendously profound."