Özgür Özel addresses citizens gathered in his hometown: An alliance of 'nullifiers' and 'sultanists'

CHP's elected Chairman Özgür Özel, who held a rally in İzmir with the participation of thousands of citizens, then moved on to his hometown of Manisa. Thousands of citizens welcomed Özel in front of the CHP Provincial Headquarters. 

Özgür Özel addressed the citizens who supported him in front of the Manisa Provincial Headquarters.

"Unfortunately, for 20, 25 years, I have been working here in Manisa together with those you see behind me, those standing behind me, those standing beside me, those on the balcony, and everyone who serves this father's house; so that Manisa may be better, so that our party may be better, and so that Turkey may be better," Özel said, beginning his speech, and continued as follows:

"Everything started on this balcony in 2009. On this balcony. When I came out from that balcony and spoke as the Manisa mayoral candidate, you had packed this front area, and from that day to this, you have always stood behind me. I greet you all with all my heart, with all my heart. I am glad you are here. I am glad you are here!"

"Believe me, believe me, for years, for months, it has been the same threat, the same blackmail, the same offer: 'Go back to Ankara, sit in your seat, be comfortable in your party.' In other words, what they are saying is: 'We do not want a chairman who defeats us, who resists us, who stands by our presidential candidate when we put him in prison, who exposes slanders, who organizes the struggle, and who is marching toward power. Either get out of our way or we know how to remove you,' they said," the CHP leader Özgür Özel said, continuing his speech amidst chants of "We will win by uniting."

"They say that, we said; they tried to appoint a trustee, we convened the congress. We were re-elected with the support of all members who voted on April 6—except for the 20-something MPs who are chasing after rent today—with the same delegates from the congress we won by a 12-vote margin in the first round.

They still didn't stop, they still didn't stop. This time, they canceled our Istanbul Provincial Congress and replaced it with a trustee... They appointed a trustee who had resigned after not being made the mayoral candidate by the party and who had said all sorts of things about the party. That congress was canceled. They said, 'The margin in the congress was 12, it's no longer possible, your congress is flawed.' We went again. We obtained the notarized signatures of all the delegates again."

"Not a single rival candidate emerged. Come, let's compete, no one competed. Come, criticize, no one criticized. They continued to follow the nullity lawsuit initiated by the judicial arms of the AK Party. We gave them a task, we said, 'Tour Turkey, explain the party, talk to the retirees, listen to the farmers, explain it to the minimum wage earners,'" Özel said, continuing his remarks: "They did not go where we assigned them; they turned around and made offers to the court president, they exerted pressure. Those who do not talk to us, who do not shake our hands, made deals with the Palace regime behind our backs."

"WE ARE FACING AN ALLIANCE OF SULTANISTS AND NULLIFIERS"

"This struggle is not an intra-party struggle," emphasized CHP leader Özgür Özel, stating that an 'alliance of sultanists and nullifiers' has formed, and said the following:

"With some disgruntled people within the party falling for the game of the Palace, which wants to stop our march in Turkey, and getting into their boat, we are facing an alliance of those who cannot accept the March 31, 2023 election and those who cannot accept the CHP's November 5, 2023 congress—that is, the sultanists and the nullifiers."

ÖZEL'S CALL FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY CONGRESS TO KILIÇDAROĞLU

Reiterating his call for an extraordinary congress with 2 million members, Özel addressed Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as follows:

"I want a general chairmanship election with 2 million CHP members by setting up ballot boxes in all 973 districts and 81 provinces on the Sunday 15 days after the holiday."

"Let us immediately take the decision for a congress 45 days later at the Party Assembly to be held on our first working day, June 1," said Özgür Özel, continuing his call:

"Within those 45 days, it could be 15 days later, it could be 20 days later. Let us put the ballot box before our 2 million members. Let 2 million members vote for the chairman in a way that will be an example to Turkey. Whoever comes out of the ballot box, let us unite behind them at the congress and carry the party to power."