Özgür Özel recounts his last meeting with Kılıçdaroğlu: 'Whatever I say to Kemal Bey, he says "I don't know"'

Özgür Özel, who was removed from his position as chairman by a court decision following the cancellation of the CHP's 38th Ordinary Congress and a ruling of "absolute nullity," shared his plans for the upcoming period and his views on the recent developments.

PREPARATIONS FOR A GROUP MEETING ON TUESDAY

Responding to questions from Deniz Zeyrek of Nefes newspaper, Özel gave the following answer to the question of what path they would follow starting from Monday:

"We are announcing what we will do. Those who advise the 'nullity' proponents are taking immediate measures. We said, 'We will gather the group.' They immediately wanted to have measures taken. We will hold a very widely attended group meeting on Tuesday."

While stating that they would continue the struggle both politically and in the field, Özel also answered the question regarding what he meant by the phrase "physical struggle."

“When I said physical, I am not talking about something chest-to-chest. For example, we went to İzmir. We said, 'We will gather at Republic Square.' They closed it off. We walked to Gündoğdu Square and held it there. In Ankara, we left the party and walked to the TBMM (Grand National Assembly of Turkey). Thousands of people came. They tried to block us, but we did not stop. I am referring to what we did against these physical obstacles.”

PM MEETING DEBATE

Arguing that the injunction issued by the court did not stop all processes, Özel claimed that some circles were pushing legal boundaries.

“Those who advise the 'nullity' proponents are pushing the law to the limit. The 'nullity' proponents see themselves as if they are the President during a state of emergency. They think they can do whatever they want and block whatever they don't want. It is not true that the court's injunction limits everything, but they are acting as if it does. They say they have postponed the Party Assembly (PM) meeting. However, we can also convene the PM. The signatures of 12 members are sufficient for the PM to convene.”

Stating that he also observed the reactions to the "absolute nullity" decision during his prison visits, Özel made the following assessment:

“I have been visiting prisons on holidays for years. Because it is an open visitation day, the front of the prisons is crowded. The people there are a bit desperate, a bit sad. They are not a political crowd. They usually ask for amnesty or changes to execution laws. This holiday, I encountered a different picture in Şakran, Buca, and Silivri. Everyone was shouting 'stand tall' and applauding. Everyone was showing their reaction to the 'nullity' proponents.”

"WHATEVER I SAY TO KEMAL BEY, HE SAYS 'I DON'T KNOW', HE SAYS 'YES', HE SAYS 'OKAY'"

Touching upon his contacts with Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Özel said the following regarding the proposals he voiced in their meetings:

“Whatever I say to Kemal Bey, he says 'I don't know', he says 'yes', he says 'okay'. He says, 'There is an injunction, we cannot hold a congress'... I say, 'Let's withdraw the applications to the Court of Cassation, let the decision be finalized, let's hold the congress immediately.' He says, 'I don't know, let me ask the lawyers.' Whatever proposal I offer, he says, 'I don't know, I am not a lawyer.' He says, 'Write down your proposals, let me ask the lawyers.' I don't understand how they are trying to continue this business despite so much reaction.”

"WE MUST DEFINITELY BRING THE BALLOT BOX"

Özel also answered the question, "Is the delegate list formed before the 38th Congress valid?"

“Yes, it is valid. They can call for an extraordinary congress, but they might want to prevent that too. We are making our preparations accordingly. With whichever delegates they say... We must definitely bring the ballot box. We must grab it by one end and bring the ballot box. Until today, we were trying to bring the ballot box to Turkey, but unfortunately, now we are struggling to bring the ballot box to the party.”

GROUP MEETING LETTER FROM KILIÇDAROĞLU

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was brought to the position of CHP Chairman by a court decision, sent a letter to CHP deputies the previous day regarding group meetings.

The letter, which stated that "the date of the group meeting has not yet been determined and that the group meeting will not be held until an instruction is given," included the following statements:

"It is understood that questions have been asked and there are hesitations among group members regarding the date on which the TBMM CHP Group General Assembly will be held. Therefore, I would like you to know that the date of the TBMM CHP Group General Assembly meeting has not yet been determined by me. As soon as the meeting date is determined, the necessary information will be provided to you. As long as the necessary information on these matters is not provided in accordance with my instructions, the TBMM CHP Group General Assembly will not be held."