A new letter from Ekrem İmamoğlu! He issued a call to citizens

CHP's presidential candidate and IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been imprisoned in Silivri Prison since March 23, 2025, sent a letter for the Ramadan Feast.

The letter İmamoğlu sent to the Birgün newspaper is as follows:

"It is easy to say! My friends and I have been unjustly imprisoned for a full year as a 'penalty' for the service we provided to our nation and the path we walked with the dream of a happier, stronger Turkey.

We are paying a price because we feel responsible for the peace and prosperity of our nation against those who want to turn our beloved country into a prison. But we do not regret it at all. All my friends, including myself, are being forged by similar feelings inside. We are personally experiencing the lawlessness that many of our citizens, whether political or not, have experienced until now, and we are seeing once again by living it how justice is a basic necessity for people, just like bread and water. What we are going through imposes an even greater responsibility on us, and we are aware of this.

The great struggle we are waging must be understood correctly. Our struggle is not a struggle to change the government; it is a struggle to regain a free and fair country together with our nation, and to make these lands a homeland where everyone is an equal stakeholder.

We know that freedom can only come to life with the determined struggle of the nation when there are those who are willing to pay the price for it. If we had accepted the path our country is being forced into through bullying, if we had said 'this is how it has been and this is how it will go,' perhaps my friends and I would be outside, but in reality, the entire country, including us, would have been inside. It was with this very awareness that I entrusted myself to the nation on the morning of March 19 last year. In essence, I entrusted the will of the nation, its freedom, its hopes for a bright future, that is, the nation itself, to the nation. I entrusted the Republic to the nation.

***

For a year, there has not been a millimeter of change in this thought of mine. The Republic, democracy, freedoms, and the rule of law are not institutions that work flawlessly once established and left to their own devices. They need to be kept alive by the active struggle of the nation every day, every moment. We see where regimes drift in our country and in the world when they loosen up a little. We also see resistance everywhere in the world against these arbitrary/authoritarian regime attempts, and we carry the justified pride of being among the pioneers of this struggle in the world together with our nation; we will feel even greater joy when we succeed.

These oppressive regimes, which try to dominate by making 'quid pro quo' deals among themselves, disregarding nations with the dirty networks of relationships they have established all over the world, try to stifle any voice that tries to raise the voice of the people against them, as we do. The accusation directed at us is actually very clear. It is explicitly said, 'You seem like you will remove us from our seats.' However, they cannot see that it is the nation itself that will remove them from their seats, and they think they can stop the nation's march by keeping us inside.

If we, as a nation, cannot prevent this attempt, the same will be done to someone else tomorrow when they are about to enter an election and win. The issue is not an Ekrem İmamoğlu issue. A small minority in power has declared war on the nation. They have declared war on the Republic. They are saying, 'The nation can no longer choose who will govern them; from now on, we will determine who will govern the nation.'

***

No citizen who loves their country and values our republic has the right to stand on the sidelines in this struggle. Patriotism and commitment to the republic should move us precisely on such days. The Republic can breathe again today with all of us fighting bravely. Today, our republic needs more than just sharing posts on special days or wearing badges on our lapels. Only a determined people who say, 'I will decide who governs this country,' can rebuild the republic, democracy, and freedom.

I believe that our nation will continue to protect democracy, the law, its freedom; in short, our republic, in the coming period just as it has protected it until today. It will never normalize the shackles being forced onto its feet, it will not accept it as a dark fate and bow its head. We, too, will emerge from here with our heads held high at the end of the rightful struggle we are waging with our nation, and together we will lift our country up with incredible speed. In the words of Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan, who is spending this feast away from his loved ones with me, 'This country will rise like a celebration.' I have no doubt! We will definitely succeed!

On this occasion, I congratulate our nation on the Ramadan Feast; I wish to celebrate many more feasts together in better, freer, and fairer days."