Important statements from Özgür Özel at the Beyoğlu rally: '16 heroes who are not afraid of prison'

In the letter he wrote, Ekrem İmamoğlu stated, "Those who arrested us and our fellow mayors and administrators are afraid of us being on the job. Because when we are on the job, their true faces are seen more clearly. We are administrators who are doers, populist, who give the nation's money to the nation, and who do not eat or let others eat the nation's rights."

The Republican People's Party (CHP) continues its 'CHP Stands for National Will' rallies.

The location designated for this week is Beyoğlu, where its mayor, İnan Güney, was recently arrested.

For the rally in question, citizens gathered in front of the Beyoğlu Municipality building at Şişhane Square.

On the other hand, the Istanbul Governor's Office had made a decision regarding the metro exits closest to the rally area and announced that the Şişhane Metro İstiklal Street exit, the Şişhane Metro Tax Office exit, and the Şişhane Metro Beyoğlu exit were closed.

CHP CHAIRMAN ÖZGÜR ÖZEL SPOKE

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel began his speech by addressing the thousands gathered in front of the Beyoğlu 6th District building, stating that they have been resisting the coup against Istanbul's will for 161 days.

The following statements stood out in Özgür Özel's speech:

"On the day they came to his house with hundreds of police, detained him, and tried to put a mortgage on Istanbul's will, we called it an 'attempted coup.' We resisted the trustee in Saraçhane and issued a call. We said, 'Whatever happens, it will happen in Saraçhane.' The ministry gave orders, the governor's office wrote letters. They blocked buses, tied up ferries, closed metros. In the end, 1 million 200 thousand people defied the ban and filled Saraçhane.

Let those who cannot tolerate İnan Güney's photo with his family see this. İnan Güney is innocent. We are standing by him to the end. Beyoğlu is giving the best answer to those who cannot tolerate this picture: İnan Güney is our honor!

The hundreds of thousands gathered here show that we are strong, we are innocent. The moral superiority is with us. The energy of the majority is with us. I am calling out to Erdoğan from here. Even if my voice doesn't reach the furthest end and they don't hear it, you will be defeated by the faith of those who know the necessity of being here! You will be defeated by the innocence of İnan Güney's children! You will drown in the tears of the mothers, wives, and children of our friends who are being held inside for nothing.

They ask me; when will the actions end? When we get results, that's when they will end?"

You cannot intimidate us. You did 9 waves. Even if you do 90 more waves, we are here, we are standing.

Beyoğlu is the 1st of the municipalities opened in 1857. This building is called the 6th District so that if a Frenchman comes from Paris and asks 'Where is the 6th District?', Beyoğlu is shown.

Beyoğlu elections have produced historic results. For example, Erdoğan was a parliamentary candidate and could not win. He was a Beyoğlu Mayoral candidate and could not win. But our İnan, whose grandfather was a street sweeper and whose father was a driver, became Mayor with 50 percent of the vote. I met my brother İnan during the Gezi protests at our district office. I saw the faith in his dark eyebrows and dark eyes. Since the day he was elected, he has been an example to all of Turkey for 17 months. He opened a retirement home, participated in projects without tenders. He distributed food to students from a soup kitchen. He took care of all our dear friends (animals)."

He opened a coffeehouse that sells tea for 1 lira for retirees. We were there for Sunday breakfast. A woman came and said, 'Thank you for the fountain, it was very helpful.' She said, when Beyoğlu is mentioned, it is thought to be rich. When it's break time, they go to the canteen to buy water, those who don't have money put their mouths to the toilet faucet. The municipality opened water fountains in schools. Water is free for children. If there is a place in Turkey where the governor does not interfere and the school principal does not interfere, and we haven't opened a fountain, shame on us. We spread it to all of Turkey, but you are scaring the governors."

İnan Güney has no crime; just as they did to everyone working for the public good, they slandered Aziz İhsan Aktaş and had him arrested. With a political pickpocketing, they wanted to give this municipality to an AKP member. We have 16 municipal council members. In the secret ballot, 16 CHP votes came out! I invite the 16 heroic children of Beyoğlu, our 16 municipal council members who did not succumb to bribery. (Municipal council members came out.)

No matter how much you are proud of them, it is not enough. Their families have the right to boast as much as they want. They are 16 heroes who do not look back at bribery, who are not discouraged by threats, who are not afraid of prison. Let's applaud them from the heart."

Let's send greetings to our friends who do not eat a morsel of forbidden food and who are lying in prison like heroes.

From now on, if you are going to hook the CHP, think again.

Dear Beyoğlu residents, if those who arrested İnan Güney were looking for corruption, Mayor İnan had made a file for them. The Beyoğlu Municipality search report has been recorded. The previous administration had the facade cladding work done for 550 liras per square meter, Mayor İnan had it done for 72 liras. During the AKP period, 11.5 million was paid for 6 months of corporate communication. Mayor İnan paid 1.5 million liras. Mr. Akın Gürlek, a municipality is audited by the Court of Accounts. If it finds a crime, it reports it to the prosecutor's office and takes action. İnan Güney, like a gift package, gave the documents of the AKP municipality before him to the police despite inflation. The police have it, the prosecutor's office has it. Let's see you knock on the door of Beyoğlu's previous administration tomorrow. I state clearly, if you say I am a person of law, I am after corruption, I have honor, I treat everyone equally, let's see you go to the AKP municipalities.

"TEN MILLIONS WILL COMMIT THIS CRIME JOINTLY"

The White Toros gang is a black stain on our legal history. This gang, which is spoiled like Zekeriya Öz, is harming both justice and the economy. These are also a threat to honorable members of the judiciary who are not gang members.

The prosecutor's office requested a letter from the Ministry of Justice for the lawyer who fled to Greece and for Mücahit Birinci. I ask Akın Gürlek, who says there is a suspicion of flight for a lawyer who comes on his own feet, and says house arrest is enough for a lawyer caught while fleeing; if you have any honor, you will explain why you did this. I will confront you, know this.

I ask the Ministry of Justice, will you make your ministry like a trinket on the table? Will you still remain silent, trinket minister? There is dual law. It works differently for opponents and differently for supporters. Mayor Ekrem has committed the crime of defeating Tayyip Erdoğan. He is sworn to commit this crime once again. In a place where defeating Tayyip Erdoğan is a crime, tens of millions of us will commit this crime jointly. We will defeat Tayyip Erdoğan, we will hold the White Toros gang accountable.

Erdoğan does not love you. Because you are poor.

There used to be white Toros, now there are white Toros. There used to be queues for cheap products, now there are queues for cheap meat.

(Messages of solidarity from women living in Beyoğlu with İnan Güney were read)

Now I have in my hand the answer given by the IMM to a parliamentary question from 1995. The attendance fees Erdoğan received outside of his IMM presidency were 4 minimum wages from Istanbul Transport, 4 minimum wages from İGDAŞ, 4 minimum wages from Istanbul Public Bread, 4 minimum wages from İSFALT, 4 minimum wages from Kiptaş, 2 minimum wages from Istanbul World Trade, 2 minimum wages from Culture AŞ according to that period. Erdoğan is receiving an additional attendance fee of 500 thousand liras in today's money. How many does Ekrem İmamoğlu receive? 0. İnan Güney? 0. You both receive 24 minimum wages and slander İnan Güney.

I will stick this on your forehead. May God curse all thieves. This is the difference between us. You say it too, let's see if those next to you say amen? No one can open their mouth saying insult to the President.

We promise all young people. A president who bans bans will come to the head of this country. A Turkey without bans and without visas is our biggest election promise. You will use the cheapest and fastest internet in the world, we promise.

Despite everything, look, the AKP cannot do such a meeting either qualitatively or quantitatively. Our strength comes from our righteousness."

İMAMOĞLU'S LETTER WAS READ

CHP İstanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik read Ekrem İmamoğlu's letter:

“Beautiful people of Beyoğlu, the heart of Istanbul, my brave fellow citizens; precious ladies, gentlemen, dear young people, my dear children… I greet you with love and respect. I embrace each of you with longing. Today, I should have been there with my Mayor İnan Güney, laying the foundations for new projects, starting new services, making new openings. But they didn't allow it. Because those who arrested us and our fellow mayors and administrators are afraid of us being on the job. Because when we are on the job, their true faces are seen more clearly. We are administrators who are doers, populist, who give the nation's money to the nation, and who do not eat or let others eat the nation's rights.”

“WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BY THE SIDE OF THE CITIZEN”

“While the government is sinking the economy and dragging the citizen into more deprivation and poverty every day, we have always been by the side of the citizen. We did whatever was necessary to alleviate the livelihood problems of our citizens and to make their lives a little easier. Those who lied in 2019 saying, 'If İmamoğlu comes, he will cut social aid,' cannot even mention this issue now. Because, let alone cutting or reducing it, we have increased the budget they allocated for social aid by exactly 6 times. To alleviate the livelihood problems of Istanbulites, we spent 6 times more money than them. Not only in social support and aid; in all kinds of actions, investments, and services, we did many times more work than our predecessors. Because the nation's money did not go into the pockets of the wasteful and the rent-seekers. We gave the nation's money only to the nation.”

“THEY CANNOT FACE THE MILLIONS THEY LEFT INSECURE”

“That is why, if I and my other arrested friends were released tonight, we would walk the streets of Istanbul tomorrow morning with our heads held high. We would embrace our fellow citizens and make up for lost time. We have no account that we cannot give to our citizens and the independent judiciary. But they can never account for the economy they sank, the state they finished, and the justice they destroyed. They cannot face the millions they condemned to unemployment and poverty, and left hopeless and insecure. That is why they cannot walk in the bazaar, the market, the street, or the square. We were able to do so much work because we looked after the nation's money like the apple of our eye.”

“THE GOVERNMENT ALSO SEES THE TRUTH”

“You know very well what we have done in Beyoğlu. We organized the squares; we broke records in historical monument restoration; we opened libraries, sports centers, dormitories, and nurseries; we implemented urban transformation projects; we made huge transportation and infrastructure investments. When we govern the country with this doer and populist character, our nation sees how life quickly becomes easier and more beautiful. The government also sees the truth. They know very well that this dirty interest order they have established is coming to an end and that they will never win an election again. They have fallen into the concern of winning the election they cannot win at the ballot box through a handful of judiciary members they have taken under their command. The government is concerned with the election, the nation is concerned with the livelihood.”

“FOR EVERYONE AND EVERYWHERE, FIRST JUSTICE, FIRST FREEDOM WILL COME”

“No government that is so disconnected from reality and so alienated from the state of the nation can survive. And these will not be able to either. The day will come; we will wake up to an election morning as if waking up to a holiday morning. On the evening of that day, winds of justice and freedom will begin to blow in this beautiful country. For everyone and everywhere, first justice, first freedom will come to our beautiful country. We will establish the government of unity and brotherhood, justice and freedom, abundance and prosperity, not of one person or one party. One person will lose, a nation will win. Everything will be very beautiful. Ekrem İmamoğlu. Silivri Dungeon.”

"POSITIONS ARE TEMPORARY, DIGNITY IS PERMANENT"

Arrested Beyoğlu Mayor İnan Güney's message was read by his daughter Ela Güney. İnan Güney's message is as follows:

"My dear Beyoğlu family, my precious neighbors. I am proud to be a child of Beyoğlu, where I grew up and learned about life. To work hard and live honorably. I lived strictly adhering to these two principles. When they targeted our honor, I protected our honor despite all threats. Because positions are temporary. Dignity is permanent. İnan Güney became İnan Güney not in the seat he sat in, but in the streets of Beyoğlu. The 1 lira tea we gave to our retirees, the water fountains we installed in our schools, and our employment offices are our vision that adds value to Beyoğlu. Today, it is not İnan Güney who is imprisoned, it is Beyoğlu. We are at the beginning of the story we wrote and it will not remain unfinished. Because we are the ones who love their country the most. We will not bow down, we will not bend, we will not be grateful to the oppressor. I am İnan Güney, I have 3 daughters for whose single tear I would burn the world. Our greatest success is the laughter of our children. Beyoğlu is entrusted to you!"

His little daughter took the floor and addressed the people of Beyoğlu by saying "There is no salvation alone."