Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu speaks on CHP convention debates: 'Some people are engaged in wrong actions and behaviors'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu made statements regarding the current agenda.

Responding to questions from Sözcü's İpek Özbey, İmamoğlu spoke about the 'Fool Case' (Ahmak Davası), in which a political ban is being sought against him.

Previously stating, "I am acting as if it doesn't exist" regarding the Fool Case, İmamoğlu said:

"Acting as if it doesn't exist is actually my way of psychologically coping with the issue. If I don't act as if it doesn't exist, I would leave here and go to a meeting with another state institution on a very important matter for Istanbul. Or I would go on a Sunday trip or hold a project meeting. I have to act as if it doesn't exist."

Using the phrase "It is harassment by the President against us" for the Fool Case, İmamoğlu continued:

"But I think there are malicious, ugly, legal, and administrative interventions in this trial process. In fact, that is why I described the administrative and judicial siege as judicial harassment. Now I am taking judicial harassment further, because it is already connected. I have never cast suspicion on the judiciary. Of course, I know that this country has very honest and moral judges and prosecutors. But this judicial harassment is actually very clear; it is equal to government harassment. But I cannot even say government; it is the harassment of the head of the government.

So, this is actually harassment by the President against us. It is that clear. Because the issue is now so obvious... Think about it, in this system and order, so many events will revolve around Ekrem İmamoğlu, so many issues will be written and drawn, so many ugly events will come to the agenda, and the President will have no knowledge of any of them. Who are you fooling? I believe that the President is following all of Ekrem İmamoğlu's issues from A to Z. I now think that this harassment is not just judicial harassment or government harassment, but a ‘Palace harassment’ where all of these escalate upwards."

Speaking about the convention process after the May 14-28 elections and the current convention debates in the CHP, İmamoğlu noted the following:

“Ultimately, a process of change took place. It was already heading towards a normal convention process; it wasn't even an extraordinary convention. They see an organic style of struggle in Ekrem İmamoğlu's struggle. At the end of the day, our idea was aimed at starting a different era, and it happened. A new era has begun. Now we are in a different era. 

At that time, we lost an election and truly disappointed people; we all lost together, we may all have shortcomings and mistakes, but by expressing that we had to find another way and method, we put forward an intention on the morning of May 29 that the process towards the convention should be operated differently, and with this intention, this change occurred. 

We are at a time when only one year and one month have passed since that convention. Meanwhile, we have quickly and hastily entered a local election in a process where we have just emerged from a convention and have a management and a chairman whose feet have just touched the ground. And a management that achieved a success that no one in Turkey predicted, a Republican People's Party that became the first party in Turkey for the first time in about 50 years on March 31, 2024. 

In the process of such a party, of course, including the Chairman himself and Ekrem İmamoğlu himself, we will all have shortcomings, mistakes, and errors, and they are happening, but if the issue is to correct this shortcoming, mistake, and error, there are ways and methods for this. 

Instead of these ways and methods, we see the movement with classic, familiar concepts that harm the Republican People's Party, such as frequently holding conventions, collecting signatures, setting up gossip tables in the background, or creating internal party disputes through different mechanisms.”

"I HAVE TESTED THIS SINCERITY SEVERAL TIMES"

The election ended, and two or three months later, this started. This is not a sincere field of struggle at all. I have tested this sincerity several times and seen it.

I will not tell the media or the press how I tested the sincerity within my party, but I will say this: The struggle to correct this matter is done transparently within the party and is discussed with the parties involved. Steps are taken to develop methods for correction, but I have experienced and am experiencing a period where I frequently hear sentences like “Let there be a convention, let the chairman change, or let this or that be done to Ekrem İmamoğlu.” Except for a few people who are at the forefront of this business, the only thing that some people who are at the forefront are doing in this environment they are trying to motivate is to describe a process based on still slandering people. All of these people I mentioned are people who have made our party lose and have lost themselves. Therefore, I am in favor of a process that is not about people who lose and make others lose, but one that wins, embraces, draws the nation in, and signs a new era for the party.”

"I SEE THE NEUTRAL VOTER ON THE SIDE OF THE CHP AFTER THE CANDIDATE IS ANNOUNCED"

He also expressed his views on the high rate of undecided voters in the polls:

“The CHP is largely the first party. Yes, the AK Party is in a serious decline. Yes, there appears to be a significant number of undecided voters. It would not be correct to expect the voter to choose the CHP immediately after the local election. It is natural for the citizen to be watching.

We are in a critical period for the voters who came to us in the local election to remain permanent. Local administrators need to be successful. We will announce a program that addresses economic and social problems. It will be announced in May-June and will be the first party program since 2007. We can no longer be a party that just tells the nation about its troubles.

After the candidate is announced, I can see that neutral mass on the side of the CHP with a great surge. In that respect, the current high number of undecided voters does not worry me.”