Özel asks, 'Why and how was the Chief Public Prosecutor appointed to ETI Maden A.Ş?'

Republican People's Party (CHP) Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik read the letter sent to the square by Ekrem İmamoğlu:

"I have missed you all very much. You have come here to oppose one of the greatest political operations in Turkish history and to say 'enough is enough' to one of the greatest injustices in the history of the Republic. You are here to protect the national will, justice, and democracy; thank you, may you exist...

The powerful scene here today is one that brings joy to those who want equality and freedom for everyone, and anxiety to those who want these only for a certain segment.

We see every one of our citizens as the owner of this country. We accept it as our duty to guarantee and further develop everyone's faith, lifestyle, and culture. We feel responsible for creating the necessary opportunities for everyone's political thoughts and preferences to be reflected in the administration. This is what we understand by republic and democracy. Those who fear this picture of unity, however, see the republic as if it were a mandatory interim period. They value democracy only if it allows them to come to power.”

“FOR THEM, CITIZENS' RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS ARE VALUABLE ONLY IF THEY BRING VOTES, IF THEY WIN ELECTIONS”

“For them, citizens' rights and freedoms are valuable only if they bring votes, if they win elections. Even while providing the most basic services, they act with a distinction of 'those who are with us and those who are not.' They are the ones who, without any shame, say, 'Our first priority in the metro will be the places where we get the most votes.' Istanbulites have stood behind us for years and have increased their support for us in every election because they are tired of this discriminatory mentality and now want an equal, fair, and humane life. My fellow Istanbulites gave us the mandate in the first election in 2019 with a margin of 13,600 votes. In the second election, they mandated us with a margin of 806,000. In March 2024, the vote margin rose to exactly 1 million 100 thousand. My fellow Istanbulites from every political view approved our administration that respects people and cares for the city. They supported our egalitarian and libertarian approach. They embraced our executive and populist practices. Citizens from every identity, every faith, and every lifestyle stood by the 'guardians of Istanbul' against the 'profiteers and wasters of Istanbul.'"

“WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BY YOUR SIDE, AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO BE”

“You, the valuable residents of Ümraniye, know very well what kind of management approach we have worked with since 2019 and what we have achieved. We have always been by your side with our metro line, our nurseries, our City Restaurant, our student dormitory, our Employment Office that provides job opportunities especially for young people and women, and our social support at levels never seen before. And we will continue to be. We will further develop our projects that we have implemented in local governments and that have conquered the hearts of millions and made their lives easier, and we will spread them throughout Turkey. We will make our executive, populist approach dominant in the country's administration as well. Our biggest issue is to ensure and guarantee the welfare of our nation and the honorable, happy future of our citizens. It is to make justice and freedom dominant for everyone, everywhere.”

“EVIL WILL LOSE, GOODNESS WILL WIN”

“This is our greatest, most precious cause, for which we endure all kinds of hardship. This cause is the legacy of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said, 'Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation' and showed the goal as rising above the level of contemporary civilization. Therefore, there is no other way for us: We will either succeed or we will succeed! We will not allow those who try to take over municipalities they could not win through elections by using the judiciary they have instrumentalized for politics, through blackmail, and through mafia-like methods. We will not give an opportunity to those who try to suppress the nation's will by eliminating their rivals with unrealistic, unimaginable lies, slanders, and through the judiciary they have militarized. Evil will lose, goodness will win. A handful of oppressors will lose, 86 million will win. No power will be able to stand against 86 million who have become one heart. Everything will be very beautiful. Ekrem İmamoğlu. Silivri Prison.”

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL EXPLAINED HIS ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE PROSECUTOR WITH DOCUMENTS

Here are the highlights from the speech of Republican People's Party Chairman Özgür Özel:

That old fortress politics is over. No place is anyone's fortress anymore. If anything, Ümraniye is the fortress of the nation. There is a crowd as far as the eye can see here. Those who don't fit, those who can't enter the square are here. It's a shame to say, but Tayyip Bey, the man of the halls, Tayyip Bey who has broken away from the squares, would hold a rally if he could find this place. If he could find those who cannot enter this square and are trying to listen from behind, he would hold a rally in the square. But does he come to you, does he ask how you are? Can he go to the market? Can he visit the tradesmen? Can he look at the prices? Can he ask how you are? He is confined to halls, he is finished and exhausted now. That era is over. An era is closing, an era is opening. Now the era of ministers' children is ending, the era of the nation's children will begin. The era of all the children of this nation will begin.”

“HE WROTE AN EPIC IN ÜMRANIYE, NOW HE IS A POLITICAL PRISONER”

“Ümraniye held its first local election in 1989. We won Ümraniye with Mayor Şinasi Öktem. However, we have not been successful in Ümraniye since then until today. There were times we got 15 percent, times we got 17 percent. In these elections, we nominated a brother of mine, a child of yours, our former term deputy, our Deputy Chairman, our brother Aykut Erdoğdu, and entrusted him to you, and by getting the highest vote in history, losing by only a 2 percent margin, he wrote a great epic in Ümraniye together with you. But now he is watching us from his 12-square-meter cell in Silivri. Greetings from here to Mayor Aykut. Today a note came from Mayor Aykut. A short note to Ümraniye, in his own handwriting. We said, 'Who will read it?', I said, 'It wouldn't suit anyone but me. I will read Aykut's note to Ümraniye.' Aykut says, 'My beautiful Ümraniye. A person misses their loved ones the most when in prison. I miss my wife, my son, and my beautiful Ümraniye the most. Now I am in isolation in a cell in Silivri. I am thinking of Ümraniye, I am missing Ümraniye. We did great things together in a short time. But we had so little time that we missed the election by a hair's breadth. I say 'health be to it,' but we had so many dreams, these did not come true. I regret that. They are holding Mayor Ekrem, me, and our fellow travelers captive in Silivri with unimaginable slanders. I think this captivity is a service to the homeland. He says, 'Long live the homeland,' we are resisting like lions. Of course, we will get out of here. Of course, we will embrace in the streets of Ümraniye. Do not be sad, do not lose hope. Don't worry. Everything will be very beautiful. The day will come when everyone will envy Ümraniye. I love you all, I offer my greetings and respects. Aykut Erdoğdu. Silivri No. 9 Prison.' Today, Aykut has been held as a political prisoner in Silivri for 155 days. By associating the first name that comes to mind when 'fighting corruption' is mentioned in Parliament with corruption and putting him inside, they want to discredit our party, to break our arm and wing through Aykut. I am calling out to all of them from here. Neither Aykut, nor Mayor Ekrem, nor one of our 16 mayors bowed an inch. They did not bow their heads, they will not bow their heads. We will win, they will win, Ümraniye will win.”

“Today is our 67th meeting since March 19. I have been in a square in Anatolia or in Istanbul on Wednesday evening 67 times. They said, 'Winter comes, it gets cold. These squares won't fill up on those days. Summer comes, there is sun, it's vacation. Students leave. These squares won't fill up.' But there is one thing they didn't think of. The one who comes here, to this square, is not coming to a rally. They are not coming to have fun. They are coming to resist. They are coming to act, to act. For this reason, greetings to those who keep this resistance alive, to those who stand tall, to those who give this struggle, to those who do not fit into these squares. May it be well-deserved for all of you. Greetings to those who don't fit, may it be well-deserved for Ümraniye. Dear residents of Ümraniye, the road to power passes through getting your consent. Whoever you say should govern, they govern. The elected comes, the unelected goes. Democracy requires this. However, there are those who no longer want to come with elections and go with elections. There are those who want to get off the democracy train they boarded after the defeat on March 31. There are those who do not trust their women's branches, youth branches, or main staff, who establish judicial branches, who intervene in politics through judges. I am saying it clearly from here. Without getting the consent of Ümraniye, without looking at what they say, whether they are CHP, AK Party, DEM, MHP, IYI Party, or Zafer Party, this Ümraniye will protect its ballot box. It will protect its right to vote, it will protect those it elects. However, those who have lost hope in the ballot box, I asked him first, they don't come and ask how you are. They don't go out to the street. Instead of explaining what they will do, they are trying to stay in power by increasing fear. But this won't work like this. They will see that it won't work. They will account to this nation for both what they have done and what they have not done.”

“ERDOĞAN SAID 'WITH GLORY AND HONOR', BUT LEFT THE RETIREE MISERABLE”

“Look, let those who are retirees in the square raise a hand. The situation is the same in Turkey. Today, the squares in Turkey are full of retirees. Today, these retirees receive only 16,800 liras in salary, the lowest retirement pension. When this government came to power, the lowest retirement pension could buy 8 quarter gold coins. Today, the lowest retirement pension buys 1.5 quarter gold coins. In other words, Erdoğan came. He says 'with glory and honor,' he stayed for 23 years. The retiree used to get 8 quarter gold coins. Think about it, if it were today, it would be 88,000 liras. He made the retiree, who should be receiving at least 80,000 liras, miserable down to 16,800 liras. If the retiree pays rent, they go hungry; if they feed themselves, they stay on the street. We are facing such ruthlessness, such lack of conscience. The situation is no different with the minimum wage. The minimum wage, which used to get 7 quarter gold coins, has fallen to 2 quarter gold coins. They are still determined to crush the minimum wage earner with a raise below inflation as they did last year, and when they do this, all wages are tiered accordingly; they are determined to steal your labor, to exploit your labor. Now they are talking about a 20 percent raise. We said 'make the minimum wage 30,000 liras' last year, they made it 22,000 liras. Even this year, they are planning to leave it at 27,000 liras and not give another raise for a whole year. Yet, it was this government that came to Ümraniye before the election and said, 'It is necessary to raise the minimum wage four times a year. We will make adjustments every three months during periods of high inflation.' They looked at your faces when they wanted your vote, they turned their faces to you. But now they have turned their backs on you. Will you show your power at the ballot box to this government that has turned its back on the retiree, the minimum wage earner, and the laborer? These squares are of course full of those who rebel against injustice, against the imprisonment of those they elected. But not only against injustice; objection to unemployment, objection to insecurity, objection to poverty, objection to the exploitation of labor is also in this square. That's why we are growing, we are getting stronger, we are fighting together.”

“HE DID NOT ACCOUNT FOR THE REACTION OF THIS NATION”

“Dear residents of Ümraniye, exactly 230 days have passed since the March 19 coup. That is, 230 days have passed since the AK Party threw in the towel in politics, saying 'I am withdrawing from this race.' There was someone who was supposedly invincible, he had been winning continuously for 23 years. He was saying, 'I cannot be defeated in politics.' The party he founded was always the first party until the March 31 election. He himself was the winner of every election he entered, he was boasting about this. But there was one thing he did not account for. He did not account for the reaction of this nation. Erdoğan, who in the past said the harshest things to politicians older than himself despite his advancing age, who said to Erbakan Hodja 'Age 70, the job is done,' and who treated the late Ecevit, whose death anniversary is today, unfairly by saying 'Will you leave only when you die, man?', is today at their age. The nation expects service. The nation expects the return for the vote it gave, the return for its sweat, the return for the labor it has given for years. Erdoğan, who only protects his close circles, who forgives their tax debts, who is a friend of the rich, and who does not look back at the poor, could not account for you. Together with our young staff, our many female candidates, and our dynamic team, we defeated Erdoğan and his party on March 31. The Republican People's Party became the first party of Turkey.”

“EVENTUALLY, WE WILL MAKE EKREM İMAMOĞLU PRESIDENT”

“Tayyip Erdoğan had been defeated. There was someone who defeated Tayyip Erdoğan. But now Turkey had a new invincible one. First once in his own district, then twice in 2019, then again in these elections; there was Ekrem İmamoğlu who defeated Erdoğan four times and was never defeated. The government, which kept Ekrem İmamoğlu in custody for four days on March 19, four days before the primary election he was going to enter, and then put him in jail on the very day of the primary election, could not account for this: That day, on April 23, 15.5 million people, one 90 years old, bent double with two canes in his hand; one with her arm in her child's; 104 years old; one with her three-month-old baby in her womb, went to choose and determine their candidate for the future of that baby. That is why our Mayor Ekrem, whom 15.5 million people nominated on March 23 and whom you elected to Istanbul three times in a row, continues his struggle against all kinds of injustice, no matter what they do from now on. Eventually, we will make him President. 'President İmamoğlu.'”

“THEY ARE MAKING THEIR OWN SPIES SLANDER US”

“They had started their slanders on March 19, but they couldn't prove anything. They were crushed under the big lie of '560 billion in corruption.' They couldn't prove a single penny. The first indictment came out in recent days. It became trash overnight. Now the confessor, the slanderer, the criminal organization leader for whom they want 704 years in prison is walking among us; he is walking without being arrested. Our mayors, who are being tried for four years, have been inside since that day. Currently, the slanderer for whom 704 years in prison is requested is outside, while those who would have served their time if they received a four-year sentence are being kept inside. I am saying it clearly from here. You said 'thief,' you couldn't convince. You said 'corrupt,' you couldn't convince. You said 'terror,' you couldn't convince. Now you say 'spy.' But you will not be able to deceive this nation, you will not be able to fool this nation. Someone came and said, 'Photo with my mother.' He entered the room, took a photo. Sir, this person is a spy. He took data from Ekrem İmamoğlu and sold it. The man confesses his espionage. But you look and see that this is the one who made a presentation to the Police with the reference of the AK Party. This is the one who went to the House of Lords in England together with AK Party ministers and deputies. This person and his friend's company received cyber security tenders from the state three months after Mayor Ekrem was put inside. Shame on those who try to tarnish the honest, nationalist, patriotic child of Trabzon by making their own spies slander us.”

“WHAT IS THIS GRUDGE? MESSING WITH THE FAMILY IS INDECENT”

“Dear residents of Ümraniye, they have fallen into such a state that I explained it this morning at the exit of the State Cemetery. They are attacking fathers, they are attacking children. They threaten mothers with their children and distribute them to prisons all over Turkey. The Chief Public Prosecutor said, 'The indictment will come out in October,' but because he couldn't manage it, because they couldn't connect the slanders they made them tell, today he is calling Mayor Ekrem's child and his 80-year-old father to the Vatan Police Department. At least the investigation is being carried out at the prosecutor's office. They don't even show the courtesy to take their statements there. Mayor Ekrem's father's company, a 75-year-old family company. They seized all the assets of this company. They raided the company, they entered all the bank accounts. I learned today when I read Uncle Hasan's statement, my eyes filled with tears. They even blocked his retirement pension. They put a measure on it. If there is a crime from corruption somewhere, you seize the money obtained from that crime. Man, to the point of seizing the retirement pension that an 86-year-old man earned with the premiums he paid for years, to the point of making him unable to buy bread, unable to shop, what is this grudge? Where did you grow this grudge? Who entrusted this grudge to you? You are messing with Mayor Ekrem, it wasn't enough, aren't you ashamed to mess with 86-year-old Uncle Hasan? Is that all your power? Is that all your power? They don't tell, I just learned it the other day. I learned it, I went crazy. They gave an award to Mayor Ekrem abroad. And a mayor, the Mayor of Berlin, wanted to give the award to Mayor Ekrem's wife. She will go abroad, there is a problem with the passport. What is it? I asked, I learned that the state gives green passports to metropolitan mayors and their families. This government passed this law. When it comes to passports, it gives green passports. They canceled the passports of Mayor Ekrem's family. You heartless, you merciless people. Did Mayor Ekrem receive a sentence? Did his mayoralty fall? There is more slander, there isn't even an indictment. What if there is? There is no trial. What if there is? There is no decision. What if there is? There is no appeal. What if there is? There is no finalization at the Supreme Court. It has to be finalized at the Supreme Court for you to do this. Canceling the passport of a spouse, a child while just alleging this, messing with the family and doing this without a court decision is indecency, it is indecency.”

“ERDOĞAN, DO YOU SEE ÜMRANIYE?”

“Now I will come to who stoops to what in a little while. Who stoops to what. But I am telling Erdoğan. You were saying, 'They won't be able to show their faces in public within a month.' Do you see the people I am among, do you see Ümraniye? Do you see? You say, 'They won't be able to look even their families in the eye.' Look, I am looking my family in the eye in Ümraniye. And I am looking you in the eye, Erdoğan, I am looking you in the eye. I am looking you in the eye. You were a mayor. You were tried for bribery, malfeasance, and bid-rigging. Was there ever a day when someone came to your door, someone tried to take you from your wife's side? Were you ever kept in police custody for a day? Were you ever arrested and put in prison until your sentence was finalized? Your sentence was finalized. You were called to Pınarhisar by phone. A man was arranged to stay with you. You went there and released a poetry cassette. You boasted that 30,000 visitors came. You are now doing to others what was not done to you. You were the oppressed of yesterday, you became the oppressor of today. May your oppression dry up. Shame on you. Shame on you. I am saying it while looking you in the eye. He thinks, 'I will say it, it will happen. I will say it, it will happen.' Man, my provincial chairman said here in Ümraniye, they are trying not to let us hang our posters for this evening that have Mayor Ekrem's picture on them. They are trying to collect them. They are afraid of his picture. They are afraid of his voice. Let me say this much, you don't become a hero by acting tough against that picture. You don't become a hero by doing evil to a family. You become a hero by serving this nation, by entering its heart, and if necessary, by not bowing an inch before you. Our heroes are lying there with their honor. From now on, take care of the dog you have instructed to mess with us. That's all I'm saying. Enough, enough. From now on, if I hear something I don't deserve, you will hear what you deserve. Don't mess with us from now on, you will hear much worse. He came out today, saying 'overheating, transmission, axle.' Man, I don't understand this or that. The people in these squares are saying 'right,' they are saying 'law,' they are saying 'justice.'”

“THE NATION WILL RETIRE YOU”

“There is also the issue of the crack between these coalition partners. Every three days they will complain to each other, make gestures, say meaningful things, and the country will talk about these. Get off the country's back, brother. The retiree's problem will be discussed, the minimum wage will be discussed, unemployment will be discussed, inflation will be discussed, the cost of living will be discussed. The ballot box will come, the nation will retire you hand in hand. Go hand in hand, eye to eye, heart to heart and retire already. You have had enough, what you have done to this nation is enough. Now I had asked an oral question. I had given a deadline until Ümraniye. Did you hear? The deadline for the oral question has expired. But I am giving five more minutes. If there is still no explanation by then. On what subject? It says in the Judges and Prosecutors Law, 'Prosecutors cannot take any other official or private duty, they cannot engage in income-generating activities.' I asked the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor: 'Did you take any duty other than official or private prosecution, did you earn income from anywhere?' A panic, a panic. He is telling the lawyers of every confessor he made outside, every toxic man, 'Did you say something, what did you say?' There is something I know. I am asking that. He knows many things, he is searching for which one it is. I am giving a last five-minute deadline. Last five minutes, five. You also had a Twitter account opened, either confess within five minutes from there or the document is coming. But in the meantime, dear residents of Ümraniye, here is your child Aykut Erdoğdu, Ekrem İmamoğlu whom you voted for and elected mayor, our 16 mayors who are each more valuable than the other, Mehmet Murat Çalık with his health problems, and our Antalya Metropolitan Mayor Muhittin Böcek. They are watching this from their own cells. We greeted them from all over Istanbul, shall we send one greeting from here to our brave ones, our lions with the lights of your phones? Let it come to our mayors who do not eat forbidden food, who do not eat a morsel of forbidden food, who do not take a life, who do not hurt anyone, but who touch lives, who touch hearts. I am waiting from the very back, from the very back. Let all of Turkey see this beauty of Ümraniye. Let it come to my brave one, my lion. A heartfelt applause for Ümraniye's choir. Applaud yourselves instead of me. Dear friends, normally I get angry at those watching from the back, but you can't get angry at anyone because they didn't fit in the square. May it be well-deserved for all of you.”

“I AM SENDING THE DOCUMENTS TO THE ENTIRE PRESS”

“We have come to the end of the oral question. Let's give the answer to our question, then let's move on to the last part. Now, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is a place where a very good salary is received. Today, there are those in this square who receive a salary of 16,800 liras, a world of them. Let me see their hands. 168,000 liras, a salary as much as 10 retirement pensions is being received. But you look and see, he is appointed to this duty on October 2, 2024, then on November 29, 2024, Akın Gürlek is appointed as a Board Member to the Eti Maden Company's Eti Maden Joint Stock Company in Luxembourg. According to his own statement, he does not know a language. There is no document that he knows a foreign language. The company's decisions are written in French. He neither knows French nor knows enough English. All other board members except him are names appointed in full compliance with the job, with merit. He is the only one here. Now I am sending it to the entire press. On July 29, 2025, the names of the other board members here are known. Then he is appointed on November 29, 2024, and for nine months, including the day he arrested Mayor Ekrem, he receives salaries from here for nine months. As soon as Özgür Özel came out on August 2 and said, 'I know what is happening in the Netherlands, Luxembourg areas.' He hurriedly leaves the Board Membership on August 6, 2025. I am asking, I am asking the HSK, I am asking the Minister of Justice, I am asking the Honorable President. While saying that a chief public prosecutor cannot take another duty, do you know that a salary was tied to him from Eti Maden's company in Luxembourg? Do you not know? If you know, how do you keep him in office? If you don't know, what will you do from now on? I am calling out to Akın Gürlek from here. If it were in Turkey, I would catch him, you earned income through a company that makes decisions in a language you don't know, loaded, on a Euro basis from Luxembourg without me seeing. Will you resign tomorrow morning or not? Read the job from here too: 'With a salary of 168,000 liras, with a mansion on the Bosphorus, with luxury official vehicles, with a world of expenses, no, this job is not done with these. Are you saying, 'This duty given to me, the liquidation of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the cancellation of his diploma, the assassination of dignity against the CHP and the mayors, is this not done for this salary?' Hey Erdoğan, are you also saying, 'This kid won't do such heavy work, such injustice for this salary. Let's tie a salary on a Euro basis from Eti Maden'? If so, if the return for this character assassination is a second secret salary outside from this state's company, shame on both of you. Send it to the press, let them see the documents, let them make their explanation. Jimmy Jip, film this. Ümraniye, this first written question and its answer fell to your lot, let it be entrusted to you.”

“IF THE NATION CLEANS THEM, IT CLEANS THEM AT THE BALLOT BOX”

“We are right in our reaction. In all polls, 80 percent of the nation does not believe in espionage. One says 'thief,' one says 'corrupt,' one doesn't get enough and says 'spy.' One shares White Toros. One messes with the family, the spouse, the child. One sends lawyers to the prisoners, delivers some accounts for slander. One tries to make people slanderers with threats. I am not calling out to Erdoğan from here, I am calling out to the nation: If you clean them, you clean them, you clean them at the ballot box. I am calling out to Erdoğan sincerely from here: The nation appreciated, he managed this country for 23 years. The same nation appreciated it this time like this. As someone who has done these duties, while there is a chance to go down in history, you prefer to go down in history with a coup, with a junta. We will not stop after this time, we will not surrender, we will not cower, we will not give up. We left fear at home, we forgot it at home. As the Chairman of the party, I say: I swear that I will not bow an inch, I will not take a step back, I will not speak a word less. I know that if I speak a word less, you will silence this nation. If I take a step back, you will take this country a hundred years back. If I bow an inch, you will make this nation kneel. We will not bow an inch, not an inch.”

“WE WENT TO ECEVİT'S PRESENCE AS A CANDIDATE FOR POWER”

May God have mercy on him, 19 years ago today we lost Bülent Ecevit, the Chairman of our party, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey. There was no word, no insult they didn't say to him. But when he became Karaoğlan in 1970, he made our party the first party in four elections, two general and two local. He made the Republican People's Party the government. After being elected, I promised at his grave: 'Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Chairman, I will come here by making our party the first party in the local elections.' I promised: 'I will come here as the ruling party.' Today, in the presence of Karaoğlan, in the presence of the Conqueror of Cyprus, in the presence of Bülent Ecevit, who said, 'Neither the oppressor nor the oppressed; a fair order,' we went as the first party of Turkey, the first party of the last local elections, the candidate for power of the future. Now I ask you: Will we walk this path together? Is there stopping, is there giving up? Is there surrendering? Then, to end poverty, to get rid of unemployment, to end the cost of living, to revive the hopes of young people, for a Turkey without bans and a Europe without visas, to raise Turkey, to save it again like 100 years ago and to make this country a country of happy, rich, peaceful people again, are you ready to walk together? Then let's walk, friends.”

HERE ARE THOSE DOCUMENTS

ERDOĞDU SENT A MESSAGE FROM SILIVRI TO ÜMRANIYE SQUARE

Özel continued his speech by voicing the letter sent from Silivri by Aykut Erdoğdu, who was the CHP's imprisoned Ümraniye Mayoral Candidate in the 2024 Local Elections.

Erdoğdu, who has been imprisoned for 155 days, included the following in his letter read by Özel:

"My beautiful Ümraniye, a person misses their loved ones the most when in prison, and I miss my wife, my son, and Ümraniye the most. Now I am in isolation in a cell in Silivri, I am missing Ümraniye. We did great things together in a short time, but we had so little time that we missed the election by a hair's breadth. I say 'health be to it,' but we had so many dreams, these did not come true, I regret that."

"They are holding Mayor Ekrem, me, and our fellow travelers captive in Silivri with unimaginable slanders, I think this captivity is a service to the homeland. He says, 'Long live the homeland,' we are resisting like lions. Of course, we will get out of here, of course, we will embrace in the streets of Ümraniye, do not be sad. Do not lose hope, don't worry, everything will be very beautiful and the day will come when everyone will envy Ümraniye. I love you all and offer my greetings and love."