Özgür Özel defies the trustee in Taksim! 'Özgür is here, where is the trustee?'

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel attended the wreath-laying program held in Taksim, Istanbul, following the ceremony at Anıtkabir as part of his party's founding anniversary events.

CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik, who was removed from office and replaced by a trustee, as well as CHP deputy chairmen and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Nuri Aslan were present at the ceremony. The event, accompanied by numerous party members, took place with high participation.

"ÖZGÜR IS HERE, WHERE IS THE TRUSTEE?"

During the ceremony, the crowd chanted, "Özgür Chairman" and "Özgür is here, where is the trustee?" Meanwhile, Gürsel Tekin was protested in the area.

It had been announced that Gürsel Tekin, who was appointed as the trustee, would also be present at the ceremony, but Tekin did not come to the area.

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL DEFIES IN TAKSIM

Özel delivered a speech in Taksim Square following the wreath-laying ceremony.

Özel's statements are as follows:

"Yesterday, all of Turkey witnessed a coup carried out against the founding party of Turkey and its Istanbul Provincial Presidency by a judiciary directed and instructed by the AKP, and those who carried this out with 5,000 police officers.

If you take your authority from the AKP judiciary, you need 5,000 police officers. But if you take your authority from the nation, you come to Taksim and 5,000 party members welcome you.

When I saw this square packed with you, I pointed out the square to Özgür Chairman. I said, 'The most important task in this party is not performed by the chairman; the most important task is performed by this party member who sees yesterday's situation, considers the wreath-laying ceremony that was supposed to be held with 50 people today as a duty, and comes and stands under the sun.'

Can they divide the CHP? (Cries of 'No' from the crowd) The CHP is one, it is whole, its only guarantee is its members, it is the ballot box!

Those who intend to govern Turkey without ballot boxes, those who cannot digest the multi-party regime in the republic founded by the Gazi in Turkey, and the fact that governments come and go through elections, are already trying to remove the ballot box and bring in appointees through the Istanbul Provincial Presidency.

We will not surrender. I trust only and only you!

This tradition can never, ever be broken, seized, or surrendered. To everyone who says, 'I should choose the person who will govern me' when we see the situation we are in, I say this: I entrust my party to my members, to you conscientious democrats, to those who know the value of this ballot box, and to the vast hearts of conscientious and moral people. Today, I salute Chairman Ekrem and our friends who dressed for the party's founding anniversary in Silivri and sang the National Anthem with us in their cells.

Greetings to the CHP organization that protects Atatürk's legacy like their own child. The door of the father's house is wide open. In defiance of those who give unlawful orders to the police, who are the children of the nation, and push them into the father's house with force and tear gas, we keep our party's door open to everyone.

To those who still do not remove the police from the building whose title deed is registered to the headquarters despite this ruthless, unjust, and unlawful attack, and to those who try to create a perception operation to show brother against brother in this party that does not recognize any law above the law of brotherhood, I say this:

Delegates who voted for Özgür Chairman and those who did not are both protecting the party in this process. We are one and together.

Özel is expected to go to the former CHP Provincial Building, his new office, after the ceremony.

"I WILL NOT FORGIVE EVEN IF THEY WERE MY BROTHER, I WILL NOT FORGIVE"

I have forgiven many injustices done to me, but I will not forgive anyone, whoever they may be, who has served at any level of this party, who acts as a tool for the Palace and wants to harm this party by trying to cast a shadow on our becoming the first party after 47 years, our standing as a single fist against those who keep our friends in dungeons, and our holding the most crowded protests, even if they were my own brother born from the same womb! I will not forgive them!

I invite everyone who says they are a party member to respect and protect the elected officials of the party and their will to choose, and I invite everyone waiting for a duty to run freely and compete in the process we are in, and to remember and learn that if there is to be power, it comes from this organization, and if authority is to be taken from within the state, it comes from this nation, and not to deviate from this.

Every behavior, every step, and every word done to the contrary is a betrayal of my party, the republic we founded, and the cherished memory of Atatürk.

Because it is Turkey's political party, the birthday of our pioneering party is not only the birthday of CHP members but also of everyone who believes in the idea of democracy. On behalf of all democrats, I say welcome.

We will never surrender, we are right. Democracy will win."

CHP leader Özgür Özel is expected to move to the former CHP Provincial Building and continue his work in his new office.