Özgür Özel addresses the crowd gathered in Saraçhane

Özgür Özel addresses the crowd gathered in Saraçhane:

Welcome, comrades of İmamoğlu; this is not a party rally, there are citizens from different parties here. We have come to object to the March 19 coup attempt.

When they wanted to demolish the Atatürk Cultural Center and build a shopping mall in its place, we knew where we had to be that day; we had to be in Gezi, in Taksim, and we were there.

But today, they are banning Taksim for everyone. I swear that we will take Taksim back.

Today, Saraçhane Square belongs to the people of Istanbul; it is a place they took from Erdoğan in 2019 and entrusted to Ekrem İmamoğlu.

We are tired of you wandering around Istanbul, handing out prime plots of land to Arab sheikhs, and transferring the city's rent to your own politicians and businessmen while committing urban crimes against Istanbul.

When there is nothing left to sell, I will not allow you to build Kanal İstanbul just to sell it to the Qataris. I am no longer pursuing waste, but service; I am looking out for the poor, not the rich. They entrusted this place to Ekrem İmamoğlu, saying we are handing it over to a noble-hearted son who will look after the youth, understand them, protect them, and serve Istanbul.

Before Mayor Ekrem took office, they made him struggle for 19 days; we resisted then, and together we took the mandate by force.

The difference was 13 thousand votes that day; they came with dozens of ministers, bureaucrats, planes, helicopters, and convoys...

Behind Ekrem İmamoğlu were his young companions. That was when this place, Saraçhane, was entrusted to Ekrem İmamoğlu with a margin of 806 thousand votes.

For 5 years, İmamoğlu worked tirelessly and without pause to serve Istanbul and the people of Istanbul. Years later, they brought out a minister to run against him, and the people of Istanbul told that minister to 'go mind your own business.'

Let us tell Mr. Tayyip, who says he is a footballer, that Mayor Ekrem beat him in all four matches and sent him to the minor leagues.

Invincible Mr. Tayyip, you conceded your first goal from Ekrem İmamoğlu in Beylikdüzü. Mayor Ekrem scored a hat-trick against you here.

Despite a year having passed since the elections and his constant talk of national will and praise for the ballot box, this indigestion stems from the fact that he sees he cannot take this building with votes, so he is trying to break its wrist with the stick of the judiciary and enter this building through fraud.

He wants to appoint a trustee here, fire the nearly 40 thousand qualified young people from all political backgrounds who have been hired in the building, and replace them with his own youth branches and his own cronies. That is why we have been here since the March 19 coup attempt; we are in Saraçhane, we are on watch, we are in action, we are in resistance, and we will not give this place to Erdoğan's trustee.

When our Mayor Ekrem is taken from Vatan Police Headquarters tomorrow and brought to the Çağlayan Courthouse, and when he is in Çağlayan to answer those who are questioning the most honest, hardworking, and determined politician in the world before history, we will be in Çağlayan then.

When the day comes, wherever we need to be, we will be there, resisting shoulder to shoulder, uniting as we go...

Depending on developments, wherever we need to be—if it is Vatan, then Vatan; if it is Çağlayan, then Çağlayan; if it is Taksim, then Taksim—we will be there!

Today, we are showing the whole world that we have overcome very great obstacles here. As all the world's television stations and agencies watch us, everyone sees that Tayyip Erdoğan's regime of oppression and bans is shaking and on the verge of collapse.

Watching the crowd here yesterday, you threw the remote in your hand to the ground, broke it, and said that Istanbul is the main one... You said that if there is a protest in any city tomorrow evening upon the call of Özgür Özel, you will dismiss that province's Governor and Police Chief.

You threatened Anatolia, you said, "there will be no protests in any province today." Mr. Tayyip, look, we are 300 thousand people here today!

Mr. Erdoğan, the Minister of Interior is waiting for your call; if you do not dismiss the Istanbul Governor and the Police Chief, I will be worried.

But no matter what you do, even if you become the Istanbul Governor yourself, we will gather again... Vatan Police Headquarters, Çağlayan, Taksim are ours!

If you are going to give an order to someone, tell your judicial apparatus, not your Governor or Police Chief who will not have the power to stop these young people, to stay away from our political friends, our companions, and the youth.

If you attempt to reach out to Mayor Ekrem, Istanbul itself will break the hand reaching for its will. If you ignore Istanbul, you lose your legitimacy.

Whoever touches Mayor Ekrem will find Turkey against them.

I am addressing the Istanbul Police Chief from here: if you provoke people who have come here in a civilized and healthy manner and intervene with gas, you will be responsible for what happens here.

They threatened our organization that they would devastate anyone who steps outside. But we salute the protests in the squares of 81 provinces from here.

Turkey is collapsing tonight... We are winning, courage is winning!

A call came today saying Ekrem İmamoğlu's testimony would begin... For exactly 6 hours, they asked questions and Mayor Ekrem answered; those who asked got tired, he got tired. Those who asked were ashamed, he gave no answer to be ashamed of.

He has neither eaten a single bite of forbidden food nor taken a life like some others. There is neither blood nor the filth of money on his hands.

My brave lion is lying in the Homeland apart from you, we salute him...

Will we take our brave man from Çağlayan and bring him back? He fought the Palace regime with the strength he received from you... The day will come, the tide will turn, and they will be held accountable...

I warn once again from this square: I am addressing those who try to smear the young people and women in this square, those who run to this square, and those who call them marginal. Marginal means being separate and contrary to the whole; there is no one in this square who does not love their country, there is no woman-hater in this square, there is no one in this square who hates those who think differently or dress differently, no one interfering with sexual preferences; this square as a whole loves people, nature, life, animals, and each other.

You are the one who is different, you are the one who is marginal, Erdoğan, you are the marginal one!

He puts the police against the youth in this square! The police are the children of this homeland; the police are the child of a retiree, a teacher, a farmer... The police are an unappointed teacher... The police are those who finished economics and administrative sciences but were not given a position; the police are not the child of a holding owner, the police are not the child of money-barons...

You cannot make the police fight the children of this homeland... My police brother, the one in this square is the one who shares your excitement from university and perhaps will not be able to live their dreams if Tayyip stays in power.

I am addressing you from a square filled with those who love this country, whom you want to clash with the police. You are the real marginal one, Erdoğan... Protest is a constitutional right; those who fear this are dictators. Democrats do not fear squares, they are brave, they are respectful of protests. But dictators fear squares.

Erdoğan, if you are afraid of these squares, then you are a dictator!

I ask the squares: is it time to change this government? Erdoğan wants to topple his rivals through unlawful means to be re-elected; I ask him: after all these years of power, is the nation richer? Is the nation happier? Is the nation more peaceful? Are the youth more hopeful about the future? Has poverty ended in this country?

Then why should we keep this government in power? We will defeat this government, we will send them away; there is no other way.

On the night of July 15, a Fethullahist gang stood against this government; that night, CHP members stood against the coup. Because we are true democrats.

But today, Erdoğan is attempting a March 19 coup. Just as we did not allow the Fethullahists' coup then, we will not allow Erdoğan's coup today, and we will not hand over Mayor Ekrem to him.

Today, those who lit the Nevruz fire with the hope of spring and peace and jumped over it are here; I congratulate everyone. I celebrate the Nevruz of Kurds and Turks. I bow with respect before peace.

Today, members of the Istanbul Bar Association are among us. The government's judicial apparatus has appointed a trustee to the world's largest bar association today. Lawyers will take their bar associations back from Mr. Tayyip's hands! We are with them all.

There was another coup attempt today; those who wanted to appoint a trustee to the CHP, which held its first congress on September 5, 1919, and thereby cripple the Turkish spring of March 23, could not find a reason to appoint a trustee to the CHP.

While they were setting all kinds of traps, I used the authority granted by our charter to call for an extraordinary congress 15 days later so that Atatürk's party would not be handed over to their dirty hands and so that the Palace could not cancel the election to be held on Sunday, which will add energy to Ekrem İmamoğlu's candidacy.

The Palace's apparatus, which wanted to appoint a trustee to our party around 17:00 in the evening and cancel Sunday's primary election, were left empty-handed by the decisions we made.

Together, 15 days later, we will renew our support at our congress, which the Palace is trying to dirty, and we will all stand against the Palace together.

There is police intervention in İzmir; we are addressing İzmir with our comrades from here. Erdoğan, take your hands off İzmir, take your hands off!

Erdoğan, what you need to do from this hour on is to resign!

I salute all the laborers, all our souls, and our citizens who are imprisoned with respect; it is almost time, it is almost time...

Our courage gives us morale, it scares them! It was necessary to be in Gezi yesterday, it is necessary to be here today; we are in Saraçhane... We will be wherever it is required, and if they push us too far, we will be in Taksim...

Mayor Ekrem handed a note to his lawyer at the end of his defense today, where he tired those who asked questions for 6 hours, saddened those who were afraid, and shamed those who took him there. He said: Let Chairman Özgür convey my greetings and tell Saraçhane, tell Istanbul, tell Turkey:

"I have lived in freedom since the beginning, I live in freedom; which madman will put chains on me, I wonder

I am like a roaring flood, I trample my banks and overflow..."

Greetings to Mayor Ekrem!

There is a poem-hater who has been talking about his victimization for 23 years, right? He read a poem in Siirt, spent 3 months in prison, and came out; victimization with the poem in Siirt, victory with the votes in Siirt, and shamelessly, years later, he appointed a trustee here. Here is Erdoğan's trilogy for you...

This is Erdoğan; he thought Bertolt Brecht's poem was the song of a terrorist organization and attacked that poem. What did Brecht say,

There is no salvation alone, do it all together or none of us!

Now, let us show once again what companionship and comradeship mean, and how to protect an elected official.

"I have lived in freedom since the beginning, I live in freedom; which madman will put chains on me, I wonder; I am like a roaring flood, I trample my banks and overflow..."

Oh Erdoğan, are you going to defeat these hearts, these comrades? Are you going to silence us? We will win all together. There is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us!

We experienced an evening in Istanbul where roads were closed, buses were stopped, and all the connection points of the side streets were filled; I congratulate you all from the bottom of my heart.

I remember Edip Akbayram with mercy and respect, and Mayor Ekrem addresses you with his words too... We will see beautiful days, we will drive the engines into the blue...