Özgür Özel calls for immunity to be lifted for two MHP figures

CHP leader Özel, who was a guest of Elif Doğan Şentürk and Zafer Arapkirli on KRT, answered questions regarding the agenda.

Speaking about the Sinan Ateş case held today, Özel said, "I was there on the day of the first hearing. I went to listen today as well. I listened to the mother and then left. Her mother spoke for 3-5 minutes and ended the court session. I said that if this continues to be ignored, you will drown in the tears of Sinan Ateş's mother and wife. There has been a theater playing there for four days," he stated.

Here are the highlights from Özgür Özel's speech:

"I am following the case very closely. Previously, our chairman had called Ayşe Ateş and conveyed his support both in terms of legal assistance and human emotions. When I became chairman, I called and said, 'We are continuing exactly what Mr. Kemal told you; we can talk whenever you want, but if you say this case should not be a subject of politics, we will remain silent out of respect for your pain.' She thanked me.

Then we exchanged greetings during a holiday. 'The knife is at the bone now. Let the general elections end, let the local elections end, the indictment will be written. The indictment was written, my statements were not evaluated, there is an empty indictment.

Please, will you stand behind me?' she said. 'Not just me, all of Turkey will stand behind you,' I said. Then she came with her children.

"HER MOTHER SPOKE FOR 3-5 MINUTES AND ENDED THE COURT SESSION"

A murder is committed in the middle of the street in the capital of a country. The murder is effectively being covered up, there is nothing political about it. That day I heard 'The former head of the Idealist Hearths (Ülkü Ocakları) has been shot.' We first published a condolence message. Attention was drawn to the evening, there was no message from the MHP, no participation in the funeral. Nothing at all. Someone who had served as the President of the Idealist Hearths until very recently. An abnormality started there. The MHP remained silent and reached today.

I was there on the day of the first hearing. I went to listen today as well. I listened to the mother and then left. Her mother spoke for 3-5 minutes and ended the court session. I said that if this continues to be ignored, you will drown in the tears of Sinan Ateş's mother and wife. There has been a theater playing there for four days.

It reached such a point that her mother said, 'I hugged my son, he had a bulletproof vest on. I asked, why are you wearing it? He said, Mother, they have signed my death warrant.' They are giving names. He said, 'They will shoot me soon.' He says Sinan told me why he would be shot and who would have him shot. His wife and mother heard this from him, they are saying this, and it is not in this indictment. He is not among the instigators. I cannot say that you, Mr. Ulvi and Mr. Semih, instigated this murder. What befits you is to request the lifting of your own immunity and go clear your names. I am not accusing them; I am inviting them to clear their names. The immunity of these two people should be lifted, they should be tried.

They go to Olcay Kılavuz's house. He says, 'You cannot take me from this house, I have immunity, your boss will come.' Then they go and detain him from that house, but they change the report later and say we detained him on the road.

I went to visit Mr. Bahçeli. I also conveyed that Ayşe Ateş wanted to meet with him. They are doing such things that it is no longer possible after this time.

"I AM SOMEONE WHO EVEN FOUND MS. MERAL'S VISIT POSITIVE"

They insult a lot, they threaten. If you bend even an inch against them, they will make this nation kneel. I am someone who even found Ms. Meral's farewell visit to Erdoğan... let's call it that... positive. I am always in favor of dialogue.

This should not be accepted as normal. This incident cannot pass like this. If we allow this, we will pave the way for very bad things in Turkey. Whoever pays the price will pay it, but we must put a stop to this here."

The case will conclude anyway. They are all doing this with a mise-en-scène they created themselves... When this case is decided like this, the case will be over, but justice will not have been served. That case will be heard again. It will be heard when the government changes. Whoever did not do their duty will be held accountable before the judiciary then.

"MR. ERDOĞAN HIMSELF ANNOUNCES THAT WE SPENT 48 BILLION DOLLARS"

Let those who are registered and those who are illegal be identified, and let whatever needs to be done be done accordingly. The current situation cannot turn into a status quo. The current situation is an extraordinary matter. This situation needs to be resolved. I will do whatever falls to me.

Tomorrow I am going to Başbağlar and from there I will go to Bucharest. Our main topic there is also refugees. I am talking to all the ambassadors in Turkey. I say, 'We will not leave Turkey in this state. We cannot be your refugee warehouse.' We do not accept this. He may consider the strange agreement Merkel made a success for himself, but it is shameful for the ideals of the European Union. Mr. Erdoğan himself announces that we spent 48 billion dollars.

If you try to kick Turkey out of the council, I will oppose it, but it cannot be like this. 'You take the refugees, do whatever you want in Turkey,' this is very bad...

"WE WILL CONDUCT THE BIGGEST CAMPAIGN"

There will be a visit to Damascus with a delegation very soon. I will go within the month of July. I will make an incredible effort for Turkey and Assad to sit at the table and solve this problem - to find the resources from Europe - and we will also conduct the biggest campaign on this issue, as long as everyone shows their will to get rid of the refugee issue in Turkey. This issue must be resolved due to the concern of experiencing events similar to Kayseri.

There is such a thing as state decorum. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement is something that binds us all. This is not your blog page. If you are going to write something, you sign it yourself as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, you say it. It is extremely inappropriate for them to use the name of an institution and put such a thing on the internet page. We say normalization, these styles are not right. CHP's any foreign power or something... I told Erdoğan himself, he conveyed his satisfaction. We are the main opposition party in Turkey, when we go abroad, we are Turkey's party. For example, I cannot defend the Gezi Case being like this. We will get the Olympics for this country, we will get it together, we will do the advertising and trade of this country together.

"I WILL NOT BE A PART OF THIS"

Explaining the details of his meeting with Erdoğan, Özel spoke as follows:

100-year-old Republic, you are in the presence of the Ancestor (Atatürk), the leader of the main opposition and the leader of the ruling party or the leader of the first party of the last elections are rubbing against each other, not shaking hands, not asking how they are. They don't address each other by their names, nicknames and so on... There is no such thing. I will not be a part of this. A certain diplomacy must be maintained. Exchanging holiday greetings, asking how they are... There is no benefit to the main opposition in not doing these.

CHP became the first party of Turkey and wants the normalization of politics with the maturity of this. It is doing the toughest opposition, but it says 'It is important that the pashas of February 28 are released,' 15 days later this happens, this is a gain. These are micro-gains.

What is a macro-gain? They tell me 'Let's make a constitution.' I received 17.5 million votes. They tell me 'What are you doing there,' my wife says 'Özgür, get up from there.' I cannot make a constitution with someone who does not recognize and violates the current constitution. The constitution should not fit Erdoğan, but everyone who is born.

We all need to adapt in some way to a high-self-confidence politics. Erdoğan became the second party in the elections, he is standing there. He says there is 4 years without elections. If the AK Party is not there, you cannot hold early elections.

We said Namık Bey will take notes. This proposal also came from Ahmet Necdet Sezer. I said, 'I will have a meeting with the President, what do you suggest?' He said, 'If you demand that our ambassador take notes, they will not refuse, it is also in the state tradition.'

We already discussed it in the Party Assembly and the MYK, there is no such discussion in the party. Who is breaking the normalization? The MHP is breaking it. In a normalized country, that political murder cannot remain unsolved. The MHP said, 'Let the CHP-AKP be the government together.' One needs to look at who is trying to end the normalization.

"THERE ARE TWO WAYS FOR ERDOĞAN TO LEAVE OFFICE"

Speaking about the early election discussions, Özel said that half of the public wants early elections and half does not:

If it were up to me, let's make the decision tomorrow and hold the election 2 months later, but it is not in my hands. I have no different thoughts about early elections. I said I would not make an early election demand by instrumentalizing the March 31 election results. If I saw 38 percent of the votes as the core vote of the CHP, I would come out and say 'I became the first party.' The citizen rejects this insincerity.

If I had 360 deputies, I would do what the red card requires. A player who has seen a red card cannot stay on the field, right? There are two ways for Erdoğan to leave office. Either he will renew it himself, or 360 hands will be raised in parliament, and I have 130 hands.

Early elections are already on my agenda if the people want it. But still, half of the people want it, half do not. If we consume an early election demand too early, it will have no meaning when the day comes.

IS CHP READY FOR A POSSIBLE EARLY ELECTION?

We have been ready to govern the country for a long time. There was something like this in the public opinion before; they had decided who would go, but there were findings regarding the CHP not being able to inspire full confidence about who would come in their place. The work of our shadow ministers, the echoes they brought... Especially regarding the economy. Intense contacts in foreign relations. I am also going to Saudi Arabia, I am planning that too. I will also go to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates. We received an invitation from Beijing, I will go there too.

The mainstream media was closed to us. The pro-government media was consolidating its voters with a system that alienated us. Now another process is taking place in Turkey. The voice of the CHP is being heard, even people are coming to the CHP saying 'make our voice heard.'

All our friends are working perfectly and step by step we will see how the CHP monitors that ministry, what it will do. We will show how we will govern Turkey, what we would do if we were there.

We are ready for the election. If the AK Party is governing in this state, the CHP will make Turkey soar.

2019 LOCAL ELECTIONS

It was a very important success, but we could not emerge as the first party. We found morale in the metropolitan cities, but we were not the first party. It was a very important success, but in the end, we were not the first party.

If Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mansur Yavaş, Zeydan Karalar, Vahap Seçer, Muhittin Böcek had not won back the municipalities we took from the AK Party, it would have been bad. But anyone who says this success was not built on the success in 2019 would be doing an injustice to themselves.

I said that if the people want early elections, I will be the one to voice it the most. Why wouldn't I want early elections while emerging as the first party right now?

We lost the street in 22 years. There is a tyranny on the other side. Currently, there is a de facto loss in protest and demonstration marches, which are constitutional rights. They call those who want to march terrorists.